The Rivaini Talisman
by Larisa3366
Summary: This does NOT follow the game, it delves into FHawke's relationship with Isabela.  If you want something that goes word for word with DAII, go play the game.


Nope, I don't own them, language, explicit sexual scenes between women, slashing and hacking of the baddies and frolicking of a certain female elf.

The Rivaini Talisman

By Larisa

Chapter One

Hawke rose from her crouch, sheathed her sword at her hip, her shield across her back and looked over her shoulder at the last of the warehouse guards. He lay on the ground in the middle of a spreading puddle of his blood. As she turned, she looked throughout the warehouse for her friends and began to panic. One of them was missing; she turned back around and looked to the far side but came up empty. Moving towards Varric, she stopped and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Where's Isabela?"

He shoved a thumb over his left shoulder. "Last I saw, she was heading in there. You know how she is, 'Kill them and we get their stuff!' He said in a fair imitation of the pirate queen.

"That was scary, has she heard you imitate her?"

He gave her a wink. "Let's just keep that between us huh, I like my boy's right where they are," he pointed to his crotch. "Attached."

"Got it," she headed towards the doorway and stopped to look over her shoulder. "Check and see if any of them have a pair of boots that will fit Sandal."

"I just gave you two pair last week, what did he do with them?"

"Funny thing," she shrugged her shoulders. "I have a room full of stuff that's been frozen like that ogre thing in the deep roads, those boots included, I'm just glad he likes my dog."

At the sound of a low moan, she took off at a sprint towards the room, disappeared through the door and fell over a squatting Isabela. She lay gasping in a cloud of dust on top of Isabela and prayed to the maker that what was sticking her in her stomach wasn't what she thought it was.

"Seriously, are you trying to kill me?" Isabela asked from under Hawke and then tried to roll her off and onto the ground.

"No, are you trying to kill me?" She reached down to her stomach and touched a tender spot. She looked to her hand and was thankful to not see blood. I heard you moan, I thought you were hurt."

"No, just disappointed." She pushed her over, sat up and dropped a bronze statue of Andraste on her stomach. "I thought I found something good, all I found was that stupid thing."

Hawke picked it up and turned it in her hands before she sat up. "Sebastian would love this, give it to him."

Isabela rolled her golden eyes and smirked. "Prophet boy will think I want something, like redemption for all of my sins, you give it to him." She watched as Hawke grinned to show just a hint of white teeth and looked up at her from beneath eyebrows dark as pitch. She looked into Hawke's ice blue eyes and felt her heart seize in her chest, it never failed to amaze her that just one look from her had her feeling like a love struck fool. That thought alone scared the hell out of her, there was no such thing as love in her book. She kept her heart out of the equation at all costs and her sexual liaisons were only skin deep. She closed her eyes and took a deep calming breath before getting to her feet. "Come on Hawke, I have a date with a huge tub of hot water." She held out a hand and pulled her to her feet. "You could go for one as well," she brushed dirt from her chest and gave her a sultry look when she shivered from the contact. "Have your hair washed and maybe a nice shoulder and neck rub with some warm oil."

She would give anything to get a shoulder rub from the sultry pirate but knew that was just a fantasy she enjoyed when she was alone. "You do know who fills my bath tub right?"

Isabela busted out laughing and walked from the room. "You have got the strangest living conditions of the whole group of us, even Aveline looks normal compared to you." She grabbed a bag that was at the doorway and waited for Hawke before moving towards their friends. "So tell me, does Sandal see you all naked and covered in soapy bubbles. Does he wash your back and other places you can't reach?"

"Isabela!" Hawke pointed a finger at her and let it drop when she saw that the whole crew was waiting for an answer. "If I get you alone, you're gonna get it."

"Ohhh I can't wait!" She clapped her hands together. "I'll bring the whipped cream."

Hawke gave her a confused look. "What?"

Varric shook his head and patted Hawke on her back. "Just face it kid, you will never win up against her."

Merrell looked from Isabela to Hawke and Varric with wide innocent green eyes. "What is she going to do with whipped cream?"

"Shit, that's right she likes whipped cream on…everything." Hawke rolled her eyes when Varric snorted at her. "At least that's what I heard the last time I was at the Blooming Rose."

"Gimme your shovel before you dig yourself a hole too deep to crawl out of." Varric said before busting out laughing. "Come on let's get this stuff back to your place so we can go through it." He wiggled the canvas bag in his hand and nodded his head in the direction of the Hawke estate.

"Good idea," she rubbed her hip and grimaced. "I really need a week off, I don't have a square inch that doesn't hurt or have a bruise on it."

"I can kiss them and make them feel better?" Isabela said in her ear, ran a hand across her ass and then moved past with a wink.

"She sure loves to tease you." Varric said and chuckled. "Are you sure she's not sweet on you?"

"She just likes to see me frustrated." She swung her bag up over her shoulder and followed behind Anders, Merrell and Isabela. Her eyes never left the pirates ass, she could swagger like no other and used it every chance she could.

"Wonder if she got that walk from all those years aboard ship?" Varric asked and tilted his head to the side for a better look. "She got anything on under there?"

"Uhhmmm…just stop already," Hawke clapped a hand over her eyes and sighed. "Wonder if I can volunteer to be a blood mage sacrifice, think anyone's awake over at the gallows that I can ask?"

Hawke and her crew of misfits sat in one of the spare rooms of her estate. They used it for storing some of the loot they picked up on their adventures. Wooden crates sat on the floor against one wall, cloth bags were piled by the door and the crew sat in the middle of the floor surround by what they had gotten that day. Some of the stuff they kept to upgrade their own gear, such as weapons or armor. Any magical properties that they couldn't use, they gave to Sandal to experiment with.

As they sorted, they tossed the stuff towards the crates or to the 'shit pile' as Isabela called it. Merrill smiled as she looked down at all the woven bracelets she had on her arms from wrist to elbow. "These are really pretty but no one wants to buy them."

"Kitten, that's because the prostitutes over at the Blooming Rose give them out as prizes." She looked up and wiggled a dark brow at the elf. "If a…customer can make the whore yell out the Maker's name, he or she gets a bracelet." She waved a hand at said items and said in a serious tone. "They make those out of their short and curlies."

Merrill's eyes grew wider when she realized what she had meant by short and curlies. She looked to Hawke when she heard her snort and watched as she threw a leather scrap at Isabela. "She's lying to you; those are made by the orphans at the chantry. "You know all the creeps we kill?" She watched as she nodded her head. "Ever notice that they all end up bald after we kill them, well the orphans shave their heads and then use their hair to make those bracelets." She fought not to laugh out loud at the stricken expression on her friends face.

"Don't listen to either one of them Daisy," Varric said. "The Mother Cleric is behind the making of those bracelets, she lets the orphans use the hair from her chest to braid them, it's her way of showing the Chantry's generosity."

Anders stood in the doorway listening to them; he shook his head and stepped into the room. "Are you guys being mean to Merrill, she looks like she's about to run all the way back to sundermount." He looked around the room until his eyes fell on a smirking Isabel. "Figures it'd be you, stop it or I'll…"

"What call big bad Justice out to spank me?" She pulled Merrill into her side and placed a soft kiss to her temple. Kitten is like my little sister, I'd never hurt her, we just like to pull her leg from time to time."

I'm ok Anders," she looked to him and tilted her head to the side. "Sebastian told me that Justice takes over on full moon nights and he dances at the Blooming Rose in only a red garter belt, is that true?"

They watched as his eyes started to glow a pale blue and a deep voice rumbled out. "No, that's not true, it's a purple garter and I have flowers and ribbons in my hair." His eyes faded to leave Anders staring at all his grinning friends. "What did he say?"

"Nothing," Isabela snickered and got up from the floor. "But I will say this; I'll be visiting the Rose more often." She moved over to one of the crates and pulled out a whetstone, a small piece of leather strap and sat on the edge of the crate to sharpen her daggers. "Well more often than I already do, why don't you come with me Hawke and I'll show you a good time?" She winked at Hawke and went about working on her daggers.

"Wake up Hawke," Varric whispered near her ear. "She's just about throwing herself at your feet, if it was me, I'd tap her like a keg of Dwarven stout." He shrugged his shoulders at her wide eyed expression. "What, Andraste's left tit open your eyes and really look at that woman."

"I've been looking…for years if you must know." She sighed and dropped her chin to her bent knees. "You know as well as I that it's just sex with her, nothing more and I want more."

"Listen here Champ, take what you can and enjoy it; life is short especially in our line of work."

She ran a hand at the back of her neck and felt a thick chain beneath her fingers, as she pulled it from beneath her sleeveless tunic, she heard Varric gasp. "What?"

"That necklace, where did you get it?"

"I found it in a crate somewhere on one of our little escapades, why?"

He studied the thick gold chain and examined the fine detail of the talisman after she handed it to him. "This is perfect," He looked up at her and smiled. "This is a Rivaini Fertility Talisman, Rivaini women wear these when they want to conceive or find a lover." He tilted his head to where Isabel was still working on her daggers. "I think you should give it to our pirate queen."

Hawke narrowed her eyes at him. "And what exactly am I saying to her, that I want her to get pregnant or find a lover?"

"It's a gift from her home country, plain and simple."

"Nothing is plain and simple with her." She groaned and went back to watching Isabela's long fingers caress the blades of her daggers in an intimate way. "She's damn near impossible to figure out."

"Welcome to my world, I've spent a better part of my life trying to figure you women out." He handed the necklace back to her. "Go over to the Hanged Man tonight and just offer it to her, either you get to live out your fantasy or you don't."

"Or I end up at Anders clinic getting my ass stitched back on."

"Or worse," he pointed with his chin. "I heard that she killed a guy by suffocating him with her…" He wiggled his brows and gave her a smirk. "First time that I've heard that cleavage is bad."

Hawke felt her cheeks heat up and knew that Varric had noticed. "Yeah well I'm not a breast woman," she shot him a wink. "You catch me enough times staring at her ass so you should know."

"You and all of Kirkwall." He went back to sorting the loot from his leather bag and jumped from Isabela's yell.

"SHIT!" She grabbed at her left hand and continued to cuss.

"Don't do that," Varric clapped a hand over his chest. "Between you and Aveline, I'm gonna have a heart attack and then blondie there will have to revive me."

"Lemme see your hand?" Merrill held out her hand and sighed when Isabela moved away from her.

"It's just a nick," she gave her a narrowed look. "I know how you get around blood."

"That doesn't happen all the time." Merrill said in a low voice and looked to Hawke with embarrassment. "I can handle the blood…stuff...really"

Isabela snorted and moved further away from her and closer to Hawke. "Say that a few more times Kitten." She looked to Hawke and knew she would have to explain. "She was playing around with my dagger, nicked me and passed out from the sight of my blood. I had to take her to Anders so he could heal her melon and my foot."

"That was nasty," Anders said and moved to where he could look at Isabela's hand. "She had this big cut on the back of her head and there was this hissing sound coming from it."

Isabela nodded her head. "And every time he put his finger over it, it stopped."

"They're making fun of me again aren't they…and it didn't hiss that much." Merrill finished in a soft voice.

"Don't worry Daisy, we all love you and that's why we tease you." Varric hugged her to his side.

Isabela looked to see Anders moving in on her, she side stepped him and hid behind Hawke. "Stay right there Justice," She pointed a finger at his glowing eyes. "You are not laying one single finger on me, I don't trust you one bit."

"I can help you Isabela." He rumbled.

"Yeah like you wanted to help me out of my clothes at the clinic the other day, I think not!"

Hawke looked over her shoulder at Isabela and raised an eyebrow. "The clinic again?"

"I needed something for a headache; never ever drink with Sebastian, the drunker he gets, the more he whines. I had a headache from Hell after that night." She held out her hand to Hawke. "Look at this so he'll leave me alone." She flinched when Hawke examined the cut to the palm of her hand and hissed from her probing. "That hurts."

"Yeah and you should really let Anders heal it." She pulled a red cloth from inside her tunic and wrapped it around Isabela's hand.

"It'll be ok," she shot Anders a murderous glare. "I'll save a sovereign and let it heal the natural way."

"My talent is not cheap but you are and that's why I charge you." He said with a flip of his hand.

"Oooohhh you wound me so."

Hawke shook her head and sighed. It was a daily occurrence with the banter between them but it did grow old, especially when Anders waved the whore flag in Isabela's face every chance he got. She wondered if it was because the pirate wouldn't give him the time of day when it came to sex and that's why he acted like he did. "Come on Isabela, I have some salve that will help." She caught her sticking her tongue out at Anders as she pulled her from the room. "Not helping."

"He irks me to no end," she let Hawke take her good hand and lead her up the stair case and then to her chambers. "He runs a 'free' clinic but he charges me, I'll remember that next time there's an abomination chewing on him. 'So sorry Anders, give me a sovereign and I'll kill it' damn creepy spirit thing." She mumbled.

Chapter Two

Varric clicked his tongue at Anders and then shook his head. "Why do you do that, you know how many times Isabela has saved one of our asses?"

"She needs to settle down," he dropped down onto a small stool and looked to the floor. "All I hear all day at the clinic from every man that walks in is how promiscuous she is, it makes us look bad."

"Do you have proof other than those idiots running their mouths?"

"Come on, we all know how she is."

Merrill moved over to stand in front of him and shook her head. "I spend a lot of time with her and she always turns men down when they approach her."

"And I play cards with her when we're not out killing someone, doesn't leave much time for her to do anything." Varric said. "Besides, she is an adult and if she wants to spend her free time at the Blooming Rose, that's her business, not ours. All I know is that I'd be long dead years ago if not for her."

"I like her just the way she is; I wouldn't understand dirty jokes if not for her or how to do body shots the right way." Merrill looked off into the distance and grinned from her memories. "Naked body shots are the best." With that, she walked from the room leaving two men to wonder just who she was doing the naked body shots with.

Isabela moved over to Hawke's bed, removed her boots and fell back across the soft mattress with a loud groan. Rolling to her side, she watched her move around the room getting medicine and bandages for her hand. Her eyes caressed from head to toe and back again and then to linger on the strong muscles flexing in her arms. With each tear of the white cloth in her hands, the muscles bulged and flexed and caused Isabela to get more aroused. That was her one weakness in both male and female lovers, their strength. It excited her to over power someone stronger than her in the bedroom. And watching Hawke fight the bad guys always got her way past excited. Battle lust had nothing on what watching the reaver fight did to her.

She would never have guessed in a million years that she would have stayed in Kirkwall all these years. Or that she would have a group of friends that would risk their lives for her and vice versa. But she knew a long time ago that the only reason she stuck around was because of the woman standing before her now. Her problem was that she felt she didn't deserve any more than what she already had.

"You're staring." Hawke said and looked over her shoulder into smiling amber eyes.

"What can I say, I like the view." She let her eyes travel over her body and even more so when she turned to face her. "You don't have to do this; I can take care of it when I get back to the Hanged Man." She stretched her arms up over her head and pulled Hawke's pillow to her chest, she took a deep breathe and inhaled the sent of rosemary and lavender. "I'm missing my bath time right now and if I don't hurry, I'll have to haul the water myself." She sat up on the bed, grabbed her boots and was heading to the door when Hawke grabbed her hand.

"Please don't go, spend some time with me." She felt like a complete idiot for almost begging. "After everyone leaves, I'm here with just Bodahn and Sandal."

"You've finally gotten tired of hearing 'Ohh…enchantment' all day long?"

"Well he barks now to, so that's different. It's just that they have their lives and the stuff that they do and I sit here and wonder when you manage to carve naked images on my staircase."

"I get bored at the Hanged Man so I sneak in here and entertain myself; which reminds me, your small clothes are sooooo boring! And get some new locks, Merrill could pick these open."

"That also explains all the bones in my dogs bed, bribing the guard dog is cheating." She pulled Isabela towards the door and led her all the way to a room off the kitchen.

"Is not, it's making friends with a potential enemy. Besides, the cook at the Hanged Man would just throw them out."

Hawke smiled at her and squeezed her hand. "Thank you."

Isabela nodded her head and then stopped dead to look around the bright room. She was used to the dark storage room with the old battered bathtub in it at the Hanged Man; she hated the room and almost always had some drunken idiot barge in on her. "I've been in here wandering around and never came back here; I thought it was a storage room, what a huge mistake that was." She moved over to the large bath tub and ran her fingers across the polished copper edge.

"Your choice, a bath here or the Hanged Man?" Hawke said as she moved towards the pump handle near the end of the tub.

"This isn't a trip to the fade is it, I'm not gonna wake up and find myself sitting naked in a mud puddle in the middle of the docks am I?"

"Nope, that only happens to Anders." She pumped the handle until the tub was full and then grabbed two rune stones from the small table beside it. She tapped them together and dropped them into the water, right before Isabela's eyes, steam rose from the hot water.

"I've never thought of using a few rune stones to heat water, where'd you learn that?" She tested the water with a finger and sighed.

"Enchantment." Hawke said and smirked. "He's not as simple as everyone thinks." She waved to the tub and then headed towards the door. "Enjoy your bath; I'll be in the kitchen making us something to eat."

"You're not gonna join me?" She asked with raised brows.

Hawke fought the greatest battle of her life, her libido, she could at that moment live out one of her fantasies but she declined. "I would love to join you but what you need right now is to relax and enjoy the peace and quiet." She moved closer to her and caressed her cheek with just her fingertips. "Not everything has to come with a price." She turned away and went into the kitchen.

"What I need right now is sex, that's how I relax and I can't believe you turned down sex with me. No one has ever turned down having sex with me, I'm Captain Isabela of the sunken Siren's song." She said all of this as she was striping out of her dirty clothes. She grabbed a bottle of sandalwood oil and poured a little into the water before she climbed in and slid past her shoulders into the fragrant water. "I'll have to work harder if I want you in my bed, which is just unbelievable." She sunk beneath the water and came back up to the surface a couple minutes later. "I know I'm not reading your signals wrong, that's one thing I'm good at and that's reading signals." She closed her eyes and let her mind wander.

Hawke pulled out a loaf of sour bread from a cloth bag on the table and started cutting off thick slices and then placed them to the side of the cutting board. Next she checked on the large pot on the stove to make sure that the thick stew wasn't burning on the bottom. She may be the badass Champion of Kirkwall but that didn't mean she couldn't cook. Between her and Bohdan, they always had some kind of meal that just needed to be heated up. Everyone thought it strange that she had a man servant but she thought of him as an uncle and not an employee. He treated her far better than her real uncle did and she could always count on him, unlike Gamlen.

With the bowls on the table along with a red wine, she moved towards the bathroom and stopped in the doorway. She let her eyes travel across Isabela's features and felt her heart take flight like a hummingbird. In all the years that she had known the pirate queen, this was the first time that she had seen her unclothed or so relaxed. What brought a smile to her face was the fact that this was the very first time that she seen her without a scarf on her head and missing all her jewelry from around her neck.

"You're staring." She said in a low rumble and then opened one amber eye to look across the room at her.

"Yeah well…guilty." She shrugged her shoulders. "I'd have to be a complete barking mad lunatic not to stand here and stare; I mean I have the pirate queen in my bath tub." She moved over to the tub, pulled up a small stool, placed it behind Isabela and dropped down onto it. She searched the table for what she was looking for and poured some of the fragrant soap into her hand. "Sit up a bit and I'll wash your hair."

"You're going to wash my hair," she turned to look at her with raised brows and gave her a crooked grin. "This has got to be the fade." She turned back around and moaned when strong fingers massaged the sandalwood soap into her dark tresses. "If I was the marrying kind, I'd snatch you up in a heartbeat."

"Who said I was the marrying kind, I may like being single, it does have its perks you know."

"Like what, you don't court; don't have sex with anyone and you live with two Dwarven men, you live like the mother cleric for Makers sake, there's no perks there."

Hawke finished washing her hair and grabbed a pitcher of clean water to rinse her hair with. "How do you know I don't have sex, I could be having it every night."

"I would know if you were, Hell Merrill would know all the way over at your old estate. Anyone that bedded you would be shouting it from the rooftops. You're quite the catch and I'm surprised that some noble hasn't come sauntering around by now."

"Ohh but they have," she leaned in close to Isabela's ear and whispered. "We bury them out in the rose garden at night."

"So that's the secret to those things, Merrill wondered how they got so many flowers on them."

"Yeah she's always picking someone's flowers; it costs me and Varric a few sovereign here and there to keep her from getting put behind bars." She picked up the golden collar that Isabela wore and was surprised at how heavy it was and how many nicks were in it. "This thing literally saves your neck doesn't it?"

"Yep, I had that made right after I got married to that asshole. I didn't trust him as far as I could toss him and even less if he was behind me."

Hawke looked at the pale flesh of Isabela's neck and reached out to caress the soft skin beneath her ear with her finger tips. "Who knew you had tan lines."

"So you know my secret, I sail bare ass naked." She shivered from the touch of soft fingertips caressing her skin. "You're heading into shark infested waters there champ."

"Really, I'll have to remember this for another time." She leaned back from the tub, removed the talisman from around her neck and placed it around Isabela's.

"What's this?" She asked as she traced the bottom half with wet fingertips.

"Just a little something I found today, Varric said it's from Rivaini." She stood up, grabbed a towel from a shelf near the bathtub, her robe and placed them on the edge of the tub. "I have to check on our food, come into the kitchen when you're done."

Isabela climbed from the tub, dried off with the soft towel and pulled Hawke's silk robe over her shoulders. She ran her fingers across the soft red material and smiled. It had been a long time since she had fabric like this caressing her skin and even longer since someone didn't treat her like a piece of meat. She touched the necklace and moved over to a polished piece of metal that hung on the wall. As she leaned closer, her mouth dropped open when she realized what the necklace was. "Ohh Maker, I bet neither one of them knows what this is." She admired the intricate piece of jewelry and knew that an artisan had crafted it. She went out into the kitchen and watched as Hawke filled the bowls and placed them on the battered wooden table. "Do you know what this is, what it means?"

"Varrick told me, that the Rivaini women wear it for fertility or to find a lover, what will be your choice?" She looked up from what she was doing and was surprised to see a light blush covering Isabela's cheeks. "Isabela the pirate queen can blush?"

"On occasion but don't you dare say a word," she moved closer to her, looked into her pale blue eyes and felt familiar feelings rise in her. Reaching out with one hand, she brushed back the lock of dark hair that always fell across Hawke's left eye. "My reputation will be ruined if Varric finds out that something actually gets to me."

"Do I get to you?" Hawke asked in a low rumbling voice that made Isabela shiver.

"You've always gotten to me and I have no idea why, it frustrates me." She moved right up against Hawke's body and trailed her fingers down across her back to stop on her ass. "And a frustrated Isabela is not a good thing." She brought their lips to within a breath and stopped.

"I saw something nasty in the woodshed!" Sandal said from right beside them and then wandered off.

"I'm gonna do something nasty to him so help me Maker." Isabela mumbled under her breath.

"We'll save this conversation for later," they stepped apart when Bodahn came into the kitchen. "You know this never happens to me…ever, I'm usually all alone."

"I find that hard to believe," She looked at her and gave her a smirk. "For some reason I see him following you around like a puppy." Isabela said as she dropped into a chair. "You know where that would have led if he hadn't come in here?"

"I have my suspicions." Hawke whispered close to her ear and grinned at the slight shiver she caused.

"What's odd about this is that as twisted as I am, even I won't have sex on the kitchen table when people are walking through?"

"So all those rumors about you having sex out in public are wrong?" She sat down beside her and handed her a spoon and a piece of bread.

"Depends on who you heard it from, if it's Varric then it's a bold face lie, one time he had me riding naked through Orzammar on a white halla." She leaned forward and took in the aroma of the stew. "Is this real stew, what I mean is there real honest to Maker beef in there, I often wonder what the cook at the Hanged Man uses."

"I heard that the cook gets his meat from Fereldon and that they've got a shortage of pigeons for some strange reason."

Bodahn stopped beside the table and motioned to the doorway. "Serah Marion, Aveline is here for you, should I show her back here?"

"Sure, she can join us." She poured wine into a cup and handed it to Isabela and noticed that she had rewrapped her hand with the red cloth. "When we're done eating, I'll tend to your hand." She saw the smirk covering Isabela's face. "What?"

"I just find it funny that he calls you by your first name, even Bethany calls you Hawke."

"Yeah well what can I say?" She shrugged her shoulders and started eating her stew.

"We have a big problem Hawke." Aveline said as she came into the kitchen and stopped directly across from them.

"I have a bigger one," Isabela replied. "I'm sitting here in Hawke's robe and nothing else and all I want from her is sex and she gives me stew instead, how's that big girl?"

Aveline looked closer and then pointed a finger at her. "I didn't even recognize you, your head scarf is missing and so are your tits."

"They aren't missing, see." She flashed Aveline and then had to pound Hawke on her back when she started choking on her food. "Don't you die on me; I already have a reputation for killing people with my tits and killing the Champion of Kirkwall would not be good."

"That's true?" Aveline said in total surprise, I thought Varric was telling me one of his tall tales again." She grabbed a cup from the table, filled it with water and handed it to a still coughing Hawke.

"No, the dumb ass was staring at my tits, walked off the pier and drowned in the harbor. I had nothing to do with it what's so ever."

"I bet you didn't even try and save him did you?" Aveline asked.

"Of course not, he deserved it; he should have kept his eyes off my tits damn pervert." She wiped the tears from Hawke's cheeks and placed a soft kiss to her temple. "I need to stick with women; they only stare at my ass." Grabbing another bowl from the stack, she fixed Aveline a bowl of stew before she went back to eating. She gave Hawke a grin. "Right Serah Hawke?"

Aveline rolled her eyes at them. "Anyway, one of my guards brought in a sailor that said he was the only survivor from the merchant ship the Court Jester. He said they were attacked about two days from here by a Qunari ship. He said that they were boarded and that his Captain was tortured on the location of a thieving pirate bitch." She looked to Isabela with a raised eyebrow. "Anyone you know?"

Isabela shook her head and kept on eating. "I'm the pirate Queen, the bitch is my mother, tell the Qunari that they can find her in the slums of Rivaini."

Hawke looked at her and sighed. "Please tell me that you didn't steal from them again."

"I swear on Merrill's life that I didn't take anything from them, I haven't left Kirkwall since I came back from...well you know when I sorta…bugger it all, it wasn't me."

Hawke looked to Aveline, ran her hands down her face and sighed heavily. "Did he say anything else?"

"Nope and he's likely not to, he died shortly after the guard brought him in." She pulled something from inside the pouch hanging at her side and handed it to Hawke. "He said they left this behind with the Captain right before they blew a hole in the side of their ship. Do you recognize it at all?"

"This is part of my armor; the Arishok broke it off during our little dance." She turned the piece of her pauldron over on the table and ran a finger across where it was sheared off in battle. "That damn battle axe was painful as Hell; I thought he had severed my arm off at the shoulder."

Isabela began to feel sick to her stomach from the memories flooding her mind. She would never forget when Hawke agreed to dual the Arishok with her as the prize. With every blow that Hawke parried, one always made contact and knocked her off her feet. If not for her agility and stubbornness, she would have fallen like so many others beneath his battle axe. When the battle was over, she couldn't face Hawke or any of her friends, so she fled. But that didn't last; a voice deep inside her kept her awake at night and haunted her during her waking hours. It kept telling her it was time to stop running and go back to where her heart was. She argued with herself and the voice for a long time before she turned around and headed back to Kirkwall and the Hanged Man. Once there, she knew it wouldn't be long before Hawke found her.

"Don't be mad but I think the Arishok had a brother." Isabela said in a soft voice and tried to shrink down beneath the table.

"He what?" Aveline all but squealed.

"I think he had a couple siblings if I remember it right, cousins, second and maybe third cousins."

"Ohh for the Makers sake Isabela," Aveline dropped her head onto the top of the table and groaned. "Anything else you want to tell us about the Qunari?"

"The women are just as ugly as the men?" She looked to Hawke and shrugged her shoulders. "It's not my fault this time around and you give the word and I'll disappear."

Hawke shook her head. "You're not going anywhere; we'll settle this once and for all."

Aveline finished her stew and stood up. "If I hear anything I'll let you know and you do the same and keep your pirate at your side, shackle her if you have to." She left the estate and missed the look Isabela gave Hawke.

"I prefer a leash, shackles leave nasty marks."

Hawke rubbed the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath. "What am I gonna do with you?"

"You want my list or do you just want me to name a few?"

Chapter Three

Hawke was at her writing desk when Merrill came in and stood by her side, she looked up into her luminous green eyes and saw worry there. "What's wrong?"

"I have a serious problem…Aveline wants me in her office."

"Did she say why?" She turned in her chair and studied the frightened elf.

"Something about some of the nobles wanting me strung up in the gallows and oak trees."

"Oak trees…tell me you didn't cut down or trim someone's tree?"

"Ohh no, I would never hurt a tree, I like trees…all Dailish like trees. We plant them every where we go, which could be the problem now that I think about it." She waved a small hand around and then shrugged her shoulders. "I think they're mad because I planted trees in their flower gardens."

"How many trees did you plant?"

"It was only about 100 or so, I brought the acorns back from Sundermount. I had to plant them, they were taking over my room and squirrels kept coming in to pull them from their pots."

"Only 100 trees," she stood up, looked around the room and shook her head. "Let's go see what we can do to fix this." As she headed towards the door, she grabbed her sword belt and buckled it around her waist.

Merrill sighed heavily. "I don't know why they always get so upset, trees are good."

"I agree with you but you need to plant them where someone won't scream bloody murder or you just might end up planted under it." She pointed out the window to the land behind her estate. "I have all this land and you still plant stuff in town." Since becoming champion of Kirkwall and all her business endeavors became fruitful, Hawke was able to buy an estate outside of the city walls. The Amell estate was now occupied by her merry little band of misfits, with the exception of Isabela and Varric. She preferred the Hanged Man even though she complained all the time about the place.

"But the city is so drab with all its browns and grays, it needs some green and yellow and red, I really like red flowers." She stopped to look at Hawke. "Do you think Aveline is mad about the flower boxes I put in the guards barracks?"

Hawke groaned and just wanted to fall to the floor and throw a temper tantrum but that just wasn't something that the champion did, at least not until she was alone.

After she calmed down some nobles by way of sovereigns, dug up all of the trees that a little elf had planted all over the city, she then helped her move the flower boxes from the barracks. Although she would have loved to see Aveline throw another temper tantrum over the bright flowers decorating her office, she'd had enough excitement for one day. What she wanted was to sit down with a bottle of whiskey and look into a pair of amber eyes. It may sound creepy to others but she loved when the flames from the fireplace made Isabela's eyes glow. She was daydreaming about that and the sound of her voice, her laughter and how just her presence made her a little light headed. But of course like everything else in her life that day, her daydream turned into a nightmare. A handful of cut purses stepped from an alley near the Blooming Rose. "Looky here," the lead idiot said with a yellow toothed sneer. "We have a noble all alone; her finery alone will bring a few sovereigns."

Hawke pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. "Do us all a favor and just run along back to the sewers, I am in no mood to kick your asses today."

They all laughed at her and started to circle her so that she couldn't escape. "Not in the mood to kick our asses, that's priceless." The leader said before swinging his sword at her and ending up hitting the cobblestone instead. In a matter of minutes, she had all of them but one either dead or maimed. As she turned to take on the last of them, a dagger flew past her head and buried it self in his forehead.

"That was so exciting!" Isabela said from the doorway of the Blooming Rose. "Especially when you beat that one guy to death with his own helmet, it's got me all hot and bothered." She moved over to retrieve her dagger and then turned to take in the sweaty reaver with her flaring nostrils and wild ice blue eyes. "So what brings you to this part of the city?" She moved into Hawke's personal space and placed the palms of her hands on her heaving chest. "And where's your armor?" She moved her hands further down Hawke's chest and pressed the heels of her hands against her hardened nipples.

"At home and I was looking for you," she breathed in the spicy scent of Isabela's perfume and felt a flutter between her legs. "I wasn't expecting some idiots to jump me, how asinine was that; I mean who doesn't know who I am?" She shivered when Isabela pressed up against her and whispered in her ear.

"I know who you are but I would really love to get to know you better, if you know what I mean." She nipped the side of her neck and grinned when she moaned.

"What has gotten into you, you've never flirted with me like this before or taken such liberties with my body?"

"No idea but I just can't help myself," she gazed deeply into her pale eyes. "Or control myself." She took Hawke's hand, shoved it beneath her undergarment and into the liquid heat between her thighs. She threw her head back and moaned from the feeling of her fingers sliding through her juices. "See what you do to me."

"Ok that's it, I surrender." Hawke captured Isabela's mouth in a hungry kiss and backed her up against the door to the Blooming Rose. She ran her hands down across her hips and then lifted her up so that she could wrap her legs around her. She pressed her into the door and started to rock her hips into her when all of a sudden the door opened and they fell into the Blooming Rose. They hit the floor in a heap of arms and legs and lay there groaning.

"I never expected to see this that's for sure." Gamlen said from where he stood above the women. "Maybe you two should get a room?" He stepped over the top of them and went out the door.

Hawke dropped her face down onto Isabela's chest and whimpered when she felt a thigh move between her own and press against her center. "We have to get out of here." She said into Isabela's breasts and then heard her laughing. "It's not funny."

"Ohh it is and it'll be worse by morning, I can hear the tale now. The champion of Kirkwall falls to the wiles of the sultry and absolutely beautiful pirate queen."

Hawke kept her head down as she listened to the chatter going on around them; she swore that they had stumbled into the Hanged man and not the brothel. "This place is going to the dogs, look at those two going at it on the floor." One woman said.

"Is that the warrior and the virgin fantasy I've been hearing about from Orlais, I wonder if I can join in?" An Elvin man asked as he pointed to them.

Hawke got up from the floor and then pulled a grinning Isabela to her feet. "Let's get out of here before it turns into a party."

"But parties can be fun, that is if you have the right people at them." She was surprised that Hawke kept hold of her hand all through town and out the front gates. With each person that they passed, she gave them a look or gesture that had them gawking with envy. Once they were at Hawke's estate, she led them right through the front doors, up the staircase and to her chambers. She had closed the door behind them only to open it and whistle for her dog. "I may be a freak but I am not having sex with your dog." Isabela said as she tapped Hawke on her shoulder.

"Ewww…that's just too twisted to even think about." Hawke shivered and then turned when she heard nails clicking on the floor. "Guard the door, no one comes in got me?" She barked and dropped down to block the door with her massive body. "I just want you to know that I have years of pent up sexual frustration to work through and your names on all of it." She picked her up and carried her towards the bed where they fell into a heap. The sound of fabric ripping, moans, grunts and groans echoed through out the room and through the closed door. Some of the sounds were very similar to what abominations or shades made when attacking. Bodhan ventured upstairs in the early morning hours of the next day and jumped from the yell coming from behind the door. He was debating on calling the cleric mother or maybe Anders to have them come and make sure that Hawke wasn't possessed. That was until he heard a loud thump and laughing, it still made him uneasy though.

Chapter Four

Bethany came up the stone walkway of her sister's estate and stopped to stare at the window to Hawke's chambers. It looked like the curtains were hanging off kilter and she had no idea what was hanging in the tree branches outside of the window. All she knew was that a harried messenger had found her and handed over a note from Bohdan asking that she come immediately because he feared for her sister's health and safety. On her way, she stopped off to see Varric to see if he had heard any news of what was going on at the Hawke Estate. He hadn't heard anything since he had been away visiting Bertrand in the loony bin but he told her to go down stairs and ask the talkative man, he knew everything that went on in the city. After listening to him for five minutes, she knew that he should be locked up with Bertrand; the man was clearly a few cards short of a full deck.

"Please Andraste; let it be blood magic or a demon possession and not what I've been hearing." She made her way into the estate and up to her sister's chambers. Waving a hand at her dog, she watched as she wagged his tail and trotted off down stairs. "Maker help me be strong." She said before she opened the door and stepped into the dim room. She looked around at the scattered clothing, bed linens, empty wine bottles and other things that she had no idea of what they were or had been. "You need a maid, that's for damn sure." She whispered and headed towards the un-kept bed. She ran a hand over the lump in the bed and then sat down on the edge to gather her thoughts. "Ok Hawke, what's this I hear about you mooring your ship in port Isabela?" She pulled back the blankets to look down upon a scar and bruise marred muscular back. She poked it with her fingertip until she heard a deep groan and a dark head appeared from under the pillow. "Wake up sis before I zap you with a frost bolt."

"That sounds like fun, can I pick where you zap me?" Isabela rolled over and showed all of her glory to a wide eyed Bethany. "Port Isabela huh, did you come up with that one all on your own?"

"Where's Hawke?"

"I hope she's getting us something to eat, I'm starving." She looked to the window and squinted from the light shinning through. "What time is it?"

"Way past an explanation." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked down at her with dark brown eyes. "Now why are you in my sister's bed?"

"Well it's like this, after a while the floor is uncomfortable, especially after a few hours of non-stop sex." She sat up in the bed, ran a hand across her face and blinked her bloodshot eyes. "Just unbelievable mind blowing sex, hour after hour after hour." She grinned when Bethany covered her ears and started humming. The second she stopped and pulled her hands down, she continued. "And what she can do with her tongue has me praying to the Maker every single time she does it!"

Hawke walked into the room, took one look at her sister's ram-rod straight posture and knew she was in deep trouble. "Bethany, what brings you here?" She picked up her silk rob from the floor, moved over to the bed and draped it around Isabela's shoulders.

"I got a note from Bohdan; he was worried about your welfare, now that I see what has been going on, I'm worried about you getting some incurable disease."

"Hey I take offense to that," Isabela growled. "I don't and never have had any diseases, that rash I had was a bad reaction from eating strawberries."

Hawke raised a hand between them to stop the bickering. "Ok, that's enough," she pointed to Bethany. "I'll meet you in the kitchen." She turned back to Isabela and leaned over to give her a tender kiss. "And you need to get dressed before I lose what little bit of control I have or Sandal comes in here." She kissed her again and then moved towards the door to find her sister watching. "Pervert."

"Me, I'm not the one with a pirate in my bed."

"Not just any pirate," she looked over her shoulder at Isabela and winked. "The Queen of the pirates."

Hawke searched her desk for the letter she had gotten a week before, she found it on the very bottom and quickly wrote a few words on the bottom before folding it back up. She pulled a few coins from her pocket and handed it all over to Sandal. "Give him this note and the coins, he'll give you some potions, put them in my chamber when you get home, ok?" He nodded his head and went out the front door. Yawning wide enough that her jaw cracked, she headed into the kitchen to find Isabela arguing with her sister. "I can't leave you two alone for two minutes before you start fighting."

"We're not fighting," Isabela said with a cocked brow. "We're discussing the finer points of power over finesse."

Hawke looked between them and sighed, this was going to be one of those days. "Power and finesse, you two scare me to no end."

"There are times when too much power will alter the wanted effect, if you use a tender touch, there's less of a chance of something going wrong or off too soon." Isabela gave Hawke a look that made her squirm. "Sometimes it just takes a light touch to get the cork to pop." She grabbed the wine bottle from Bethany's hand and eased the cork out with the tip of one of her daggers. "You can't be jamming a blade in there like a dwarf tapping a keg, you break the cork and all that nasty stuff ends up inside the bottle." She handed the bottle back and grinned. "You really need to get bent over and nailed a few times; you're wound up so damn tight you're likely to explode." She leaned back into Hawke and let one of her hands drift down to caress her thigh. "Sweet thing, we should set her up with Daisy, that's another one that needs to get bent." She pointed to the window. "She's out there doing that frolicking thing, if she got laid, she might stop chasing the poor rabbits."

Bethany huffed and wagged a finger at her. "Sex is not the answer to everything."

"Says the person who hasn't gotten any in years." Isabela said and cast a smoldering look at the younger woman, she watched as a deep blush rose up her cheeks and grinned. "So it works on both the Hawke women, that's interesting."

Aveline paced in front of Hawke and stopped periodically to stare at her with disgust. "How could you?"

"How could I what?" She asked with boredom.

"Of all the people in Kirkwall, you just had to bed Isabela?"

"Why is everyone having a problem with this," she stood and walked over to look out of the window of Aveline's office. "Or is it because I didn't choose some shallow noble to fall into my bed?"

"You're a noble and you're mixing with a shallow whoring smuggler, that's the problem."

"I'm a commoner with a big house and there's more to Isabela then what people see. She has a big heart even though she acts differently; remember she saved our asses by bringing that stupid relic back, she could have just kept on going."

"We wouldn't have been at war if she hadn't stolen it to begin with and now we have more Qunari out there sinking ships looking for who?"

"They're not here for her, they're here for me, I'm the one who killed the Arishok and I'd do it all over again and not think twice about it."

Aveline studied her friend and shook her head. "I see it all so clearly now," she stepped closer to her. "You're in love with her, that's why you fought him instead of letting him kill her or take her away."

"I did what had to be done to save Kirkwall." She shrugged her shoulders.

"You can't lie for shit Hawke," she grinned and shoved her in her shoulder. "There will be nobles all over the place crying into their cups, the Champion of Kirkwall is shackled." She watched as a light blush ran up Hawke's high cheekbones. "So how long have you felt this way about her?"

"Years but the feelings aren't mutual," she looked to Aveline and back out the window. "But I'll take what I can get and be happy."

"I'm really sorry Hawke," she squeezed her shoulder and dropped her eyes to the floor. "I wish you had with her what I have with Donnic, you deserve it."

"Thanks Aveline." She left the Captain of the Guard looking at her back as she left her office.

"By Andraste I hope Isabela sees what she has and doesn't screw it up." She went over to her desk and picked up the reports that had come in that day. "What is wrong with all of these people, stop killing each other or stealing each others stuff for Makers sake?" She read one of the reports that had come in from the docks and sighed. "Another group of thugs thinking they can come here and take over the docks, not on my watch." She left her office at a run hoping that she could catch up with Hawke and ask yet another favor of her.

Chapter Five

Hawke and her misfits including Bethany wandered the through the docks looking for the group of thugs that had come into the area aboard one of the slaver ships. Aveline said that they had been seen dragging some of the people from Darktown and the sewers into one of the abandoned warehouses. She told them she didn't care how they handled it, she wanted the creeps gone and the spoils were theirs to keep. "Sweet thing, when big girl said we could keep everything, does that include their ship?"

Anders groaned and gave her a roll of his eyes. "What do you need another ship for; you've got two, how many more do you need?"

"I like big boats, everyone knows this, and at least I collect useful things unlike you."

"I have no idea what you mean." He moved ahead of them and ignored her.

"How many stuffed or little carved pussy cats do you have in your clinic, 50-60?"

"How many hash marks do you have on your bed post?"

"None," she wiggled a dark brow at him. "But we do have silk ropes hanging on them." She smiled at a blushing Hawke and ran a finger across her lips.

"We?" He stopped and looked into her twinkling amber eyes. "How many is that, a couple hundred?"

"Haa you're such a funny guy," she looked to Hawke and ran the tip of her tongue up the center of her top lip. "Only one spirit boy, only one." She walked towards a darkened alley with an exaggerated swagger.

"What does she…?" He looked to Hawke and watched as she gave him a raised left eyebrow and a smirk. "No…really?" He looked at the rest of his friends and sighed. "Am I the only one who didn't know about them?" He sighed when they all nodded their heads.

Merrill shrugged her shoulders and sighed. "I tried walking like that and I tripped over my own feet and almost ended up in the harbor again."

"Daisy there's nothing wrong with the way you walk," Varric said as he walked past her to join Hawke and Isabela. "Except when you walk into doorways, barrels, crates…well you get the point right?" He snorted when she dropped almost to the ground when a bat flew over her head, she reminded him of a flighty bird. "Come on before we lose them somewhere down here."

Bethany moved beside Merrill and wrapped an arm over her shoulders. "Be yourself Merrill, besides I don't think you want the attention that Isabela gets from that swagger she has." She pointed to her sister. "Look what it does to my poor sister?" She chuckled when Hawke stumbled over the edge of a crate and then her own feet because her eyes were on Isabela's ass. "We may have to pull her out of the harbor is she doesn't watch where she's going."

They walked around for the better part of the night and were about to give up and go home when Varric heard a muffled cry. He raised a hand up for them to stop and pointed off towards the warehouses to his left. Isabela pulled her daggers from her back, dropped low to the ground and made her way to the corner of the building. She stopped and listened for any sound coming from with in and then signaled for them to spread out. She moved to the side of the door, dropped to a crouch and then swung her foot out to smash into the door. When a man came out of the door, she tripped him and then smacked him in the back of the head with a pommel. Dragging him away by one foot, she signaled for everyone else to join her. One by one, they entered the warehouse and moved silently towards where they could hear voices. Once they were within range, Hawke held out a hand for them to stop and she proceeded to enter the circle of light from the candles on a small table and looked at the men standing there.

"I'm looking for some lice infested slavers, anyone like that around here?" She dodged the sword that came her way and kicked out at another man that rushed her. The clash of swords, hiss of fireballs and screams coming from the slavers lasted maybe fifteen minutes before the only sound in the warehouse was Sebastian complaining about how bad the men reeked.

"Water is free; they could at least go for a swim in the harbor." He wiped his hands on his trousers after searching the pockets of a slaver.

"And kill all the fish?" Varric asked.

"That would be bad, the poor fish all floating belly up." Merrill added and wiped a tear from her cheek. "Poor little fishes."

Bethany watched the wiry elf and felt a warmness blossom in her chest; Merrill seemed so out of place with them at times. She was so innocent in many ways and it brought out a part of her that wanted to protect her. She looked over to her sister and watched as she helped Isabela fill their loot bags. She had been watching them lately and finally realized that when they fought the bad guys, they were like one force. Isabela would appear out of nowhere, to either appear at her sisters back or behind the bad guy where she would cut him to ribbons. As she watched them, they looked at each other and shared a small smile. "My badass sister acting like a love struck idiot," she turned to Merrill. "You guys put up with them acting like this all the time?" She pointed to where Hawke and Isabela slipped into the shadows.

"Not until lately, I mean they've always shared secret glances when the other wasn't looking but now they're touchy feely and they whisper all the time. Well, Isabela does but it's usually in Hawke's ear and then she turns bright red." She looked into chocolate brown eyes and looked away quickly. "Sorry I ramble when I get nervous."

"Why are you nervous, this patrol is nothing compared to what you guys usually do?"

"Ohh this is fine, it's just that you're a gray warden and Hawke's baby sister and I…"

"What?" She smiled at her.

"I don't know, it's hard to describe, the only word I have that best fits is fluttery." She nodded her head and looked to her with luminous green eyes. "That's it; you make me feel all fluttery inside." The last word came out as a very soft whisper and then all thoughts and sounds failed her when soft moist lips met hers in a brief but tender kiss.

"Fluttery is a very good feeling." She said against her lips before pulling back.

Bethany looked over at Varric and pointed towards Highpoint, when he nodded his head, she took Merrill's hand and they headed to the estate.

"Will you look at that, I think baby sis is going to show our little Daisy the ways of the world." Varric said and wiped a tear from his eye. "Our babies are growing up so fast."

"You mean we've lost two more to the dark side?" Sebastian asked and sighed when Varric nodded. "Where's Hawke and Isabela?" He looked around and saw where they had left their bags. "Missing again."

Isabela grabbed Hawke's hand and pulled her deeper into the dark alley, when they were far enough in; she pushed her against the wall and attacked her mouth in a hungry kiss. Moans and grunts came from them as Isabela tried to get to warm flesh beneath Hawke's chain mail. Hawke had just as much trouble with the tight leather pants Isabela now wore. "We have to change something here." Isabela grunted and then moaned when she felt Hawke's fingers enter her. "Ok, maybe not…" They thrust against each other, nipped, bit and made enough noise that the rats wandering in the alley way ran out. A few minutes later, Isabela walked out first and then Hawke who was still trying to get her chain mail and tabard untangled. She looked up from what she was doing to see the guys sitting on crates and sharing a bottle of wine. With a raised blonde eyebrow from Varric, she knew that he knew what they had been doing. She shrugged her shoulders, pointed to Isabela and mouthed the words. "It's her fault." He just grinned at her and chuckled.

"Ok, I think we're ready here." He said and handed the bottle off to Anders.

Hawke looked around and then turned back to the guys. "Where's Bethany and Merrill?"

"I think big sis has rubbed off onto baby sis," Sebastian said in a slurred voice. "She pulled Merrill to the dark side…or vice versa since Merrill is kind of a blood mage and all." He waved a finger at her and tried to focus his eyes. "I wonder if she's doing demony things to your sis?"

Anders looked at Sebastian and rolled his eyes. "They headed back home a while ago and that's where we need to go before he gets so weepy that I have to throw him off the pier." He got up, took the bottle from Sebastian and pulled him to his feet. "We'll see you two in the morning."

"I'm gonna head back home as well," Varric said. "I'll stop over tomorrow sometime to sort out the loot we have, you two behave yourselves." He gave them a wide grin and wandered off in the same direction as Anders and Sebastian.

"Well looks like we're all alone." Isabela said and turned around so that she was facing her lover. "What should we do now?"

"Ohh I have lots of ideas, how about we take this home?" She pulled at the chain mail on her thighs and sighed. "Why did I put this shit on tonight, it's heavy not to mention it's hot out here?"

"We're gonna figure something out for easy access, like a cod piece with a buckle on top." She picked up her bag, grabbed Hawke's hand and pulled her in the direction of the Hanged Man. "We're going to my room tonight; I'm not in the mood for a midnight stroll." She brought Hawke's hand up to her mouth and licked her palm with the tip of her tongue. "Because I know we'll run into some more scumbags and I want you naked and doing demony things to me and I'm not waiting anymore."

Chapter Six

Aveline walked into Hawke's estate and looked around for her or Bodahn, she had heard of their battle at the warehouse and wanted to give her the reward. And offer her thanks once again; it seemed that she was always handing over coin or a thank you to her friend. She wouldn't know where she would be without the misfit group of trouble makers. "Hello! Anyone home?" She moved towards the kitchen and watched as a figure in a red robe with the hood up came from the bathing room. "Uhhmmm…hello?"

"Hey Aveline," Hawke dropped the hood back from her head and moved over to where she had a pot of water boiling on the stove. "Want some tea?" She turned back to see her with her mouth hanging open. "Something wrong?"

"You're utterly stunning," Hawke's dark hair was still wet from her bath, with it combed straight back it accentuated her high cheekbones and strong jaw. Her sun darkened skin made her eyes look like they were glowing and brought a shiver down Aveline's spine. "I never noticed this before, Isabela has excellent taste?"

"Are you feeling all right, everything with Donnic is good?"

"I'm fine…I think," she ran a hand through her short dark hair and blew out a breath. "Guess I'm just tired." She pulled out a small leather bag and dropped it on the table. "Here's the reward for taking care of those creeps, hopefully anyone else that tries that will think twice."

"We can always hope but we know some dumb ass will do it again." She handed her a cup of tea and sat down at the table across from her. "So has anyone been bitching about Isabela taking up too many slips in the harbor?"

"Funny you should mention that, I got a report from some Captain that said she stole the sails off his ship, did she?"

"She sure did and we made matching togas for the whole crew to wear the next time we go out to kick ass."

"So he's another lying sack of shit, why'd he blame her?"

"Because she got the last of the new sail material from a merchant at the docks, he threw a fit and she threw him in the harbor."

"Well, I'll have the guards at the dock keep an eye on him, he was kind of squirrelly." She leaned over the table and whispered. "Speaking of squirrelly, have you seen Merrill?"

"No, not since the other night why what did she do this time?"

"Nothing, that's why I'm a little worried, usually I've got a handful of complaints about her and this week, nothing. And only one this week on Isabela, that's really strange, what are you doing to the misfits to keep them in line?"

Hawke gave Aveline a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "I'm not doing anything with the others and Isabela is with me most nights and she's in no condition to do anything once I get done with her."

"That's not a lie either," Isabela said from the doorway. "Sex all night every night, what more could a girl ask for?" She dropped down into a chair and then dropped her face to the table top. "I'm so tired." She yawned and closed her eyes.

"Baby what's wrong with your face?" Hawke traced the funny pattern on her lovers face with a fingertip.

"I was sewing the new sails for my ship and the next thing; I'm waking up lying in the fishing nets. I think there's something in the water, Merrill is lying out in the field with rabbits running all over her, I think its paybacks or something."

Hawke and Aveline got up to look out the window, it wasn't hard to find the elf out in the field, they just looked to where all the rabbits were jumping around. "Do you think she's ok?" Aveline asked.

"She's just taking a nap, we had a busy day." Bethany said and walked over to sit down next to Isabela. "Must be a day for naps." She poked a snoring pirate and grinned when she opened one eye to glare at her.

"Ohh looky, baby sis has a certain 'glow' about her and her girlfriend is passed out in the field, wonder what that's about?" she closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

"And why are you taking a nap?" She poked her again but all she got was a deep rumbling snore. "Geez sis what are you doing to her, she looks exhausted?"

"It's not all me, she's just as guilty." She moved over to the table, picked Isabela up and carried her upstairs to her chambers. After she striped her of her dirty clothes and tucked her into bed, she went back down to the kitchen. "Hey Bethany, do you have any contacts at the circle that can get their hands on a book about Rivaini magic?"

"I know a few mages in there, I can ask, why?"

"It's that fertility talisman I gave Isabela, ever since I gave that to her, she's insatiable. I want to know if it's the cause of all of this…sex or…"

"It's really you that's making her hornier than she normally is?" Bethany gave her sister a smirk.

"Gee thanks for the vote of confidence here; I'll have you know that people think I'm quite the catch and others have sought my affections."

"Sure sis, go ahead and think that, if it was true, why is Isabela the only one that has come around or breached the walls of Marion?"

Aveline snorted and slapped a hand down on the table. "Because she scares the piss out of everyone else, that's why."

"I'm not scary…well maybe a little but look what we do for a living." She sighed and looked with pleading eyes to Bethany. "Please just check into it for me, if it's not me then I won't get my hopes up." She looked to the doorway when a shadow fell over the table and saw a sleepy Merrill standing there. "Hey Merrill, did the rabbits wake you?"

"Rabbits?" She blinked her eyes a few times and then blushed. "Ohh the rabbits, yes they did; I fell asleep while talking to them." She yawned and looked to a smirking Bethany and blushed deeper. "I tried but none of them could tell me if we've been...you know acting like them…"

Bethany moved quickly to her side, clasped a hand over her mouth and pushed her from the kitchen. "Later sis, Aveline."

Aveline looked to Hawke with drawn brows and shrugged her shoulders in confusion. "I don't know what's more disturbing, the fact that she thinks she can talk to rabbits or that she has something in common with them."

"I think you should go see Anders because you're not your usual sharp minded self." She leaned in close to her and grinned. "Bethany my dear pure as the driven snow sister must have told her that they have been fucking like bunnies and Merrill being…Merrill." She shrugged her shoulders at her. Aveline mouthed the word 'Ooohh!" and cleared her throat. "And here you thought my baby sister was all innocent, she's far from that."

"I'm beginning to see that."

Chapter Seven

Hawke stood on the dock with a spyglass up to her eye, she had heard a report that one of the Qunari ships was sitting not far from the harbor and that Qunari warriors were seen on the wounded coast. She hoped that the report was wrong; an invasion was not something that anyone needed at this time. They were still trying to recover from the last battle with the horn heads. She dropped the glass down into the leather bag on her hip and leaned back into the body that came up close behind her. "What have you been doing?"

"You know I could have been someone else," Isabela said as she wrapped her arms around her waist and pulled her tighter into her body. "Then what would you have done?"

"If it was Varric, I'd run my fingers through the hair on his chest." She ran her hands across Isabela's arms and sighed. "Now if it was that ohh so pure Sebastian, I'd tell him what we do to each other every night and watch him run all the way to the Chantry to pray."

"You are an evil woman and I lo…look at that, someone's put the Hawke coat of arms on my ships flags." She squeezed her and laid her chin on her shoulder.

"I saw that, you've been busy, so why my coat of arms and not something that shows that you're the pirate queen?"

"Because the scum suckers are more afraid of the Champion than her whore, I'm kinda proud of that little fact, you know that."

"Which part?"

"That I'm your whore, who knew that staying with one person could be so pleasurable?" She looked over her shoulder and winked. "Do you know that we have quite an audience watching us right now, I wonder what's going through their little minds?"

"Nothing, it's the little head that's probably at work right now, damn perverts." She turned in Isabela's arms and gave her a kiss that had their audience gawking more than what they had been. "Come on we have to catch up with the misfits and take a trip to the wounded coast." She took her hand and led her past some of the dockworkers.

"Beat it boys and I mean that literally, the Champion is all mine."

"So why did they name this place the wounded coast," Merrill asked no one in particular. "Did a bunch of people ship wreck here and they all ended up wounded on the coast? They could have named it the booboo beach or maybe concussion cove or…" She jumped from someone grabbing her ass, spun around to find Bethany standing behind her. "Well, it is a strange name, right?"

Varric snorted. "Daisy, booboo beach sounds so…"

"Wimpy," Fenris said as he walked over to where there was a pile of broken barrels. "Kind of like Anders there."

"Why does everyone pick on me, I'm not a wimp, I blow people up and that's not wimpy."

Isabela snorted. "Says the guy with an embroidered tabby cat on the back of his cape."

"Funny coming from the person who embroidered it there." He stuck his tongue out at her and immediately regretted it.

"I can't pass up coin and Hawke's tongue is way longer than yours and goes places yours never will spirit boy."

"Wait a second here," Varric waved a hand in the air. "You can embroider?"

Isabela pulled one of her daggers free and waved it around. "I can do stabby stuff to, wanna give it a go?" She winked at him when he covered his groin and shook his head.

Hawke felt her face heating up and moved quickly to Isabela's side. "OK then, lets go kill something, we'll take point." She grabbed her hand and moved them off to the front of the small group.

"You do know that with us up here, they'll talk about us right?"

"But at least I don't have you adding to their stories," she leaned over and planted a soft kiss to her lips. "Speaking of stories, I keep getting these letters from different people asking me for sex tips because they've heard certain things. I can only think of two people that would know anything about that and one of them is you."

"You mean you haven't heard the story going around the Blooming Rose?" She clicked her tongue and shook her head. "It's way better than the one about Aveline and Donnic, there's no mushy stuff like straining stallions or anything, just pure unadulterated sex."

"Wonderful, how long before it comes out in book form?"

They came up on a rise above the beach below and saw a small camp with crates, barrels and grain bags. Hawke raised a hand up and everyone dropped down and made their way over to the ledge to watch the Qunari below. "Looks like we have maybe a dozen down there, might be more along the trails, what do you guys think?" She looked to each one of her friends. "Should we take out these guys and go hunt down the rest or come back with some guards and work our way from top to bottom?"

Aveline studied the camp below and shook her head. "We need to take these guys out now, they've already got a lot of stuff down there, either there's already a good sized group around here, or there will be."

"I'll go down and take care of the ones sleeping." Isabela said and moved off to where a small animal path was that would take her close to where three Qunari were sleeping under a tarp. She looked over her shoulder to see Varric and Sebastian taking a position above her, she knew that if anything happened, they had her back. Hawke and Aveline took off in the opposite direction where they had seen a well worn path in the sand; they hoped it led to the rest of the Qunari and that they wouldn't have to go searching for them. Merrill and Bethany were their ranged fighters; they walked along the top of the ridge keeping them in view at all times. As soon as they came around a corner in the trail, they found around fifteen Qunari heading right at them, there was nothing they could do but hope they made it out of the battle alive. Both women dropped their shields low, held their swords back and then rushed the first couple of stens. The ring of their shields making contact echoed across the beach and then the battle yell of 'Someone wants a spanking!' joined in. Isabela launched herself off of Hawke's planted thigh and right into one of the karashok heading their way.

She drove her daggers downward and into the thick muscles of his trapezoids, flipped over his head and yanked them free as she hit the ground running. The next victim fell to a well placed kick to the groin and a slice across his throat. Where her lover and Aveline were all brute force, she was like an acrobat. Her movements were fluid and precise. As she turned to strike out at another Qunari, she saw one of them trying to sneak up behind Merrill and Bethany. She pulled a chameleon's cloud flask from inside a pouch at her side and threw it up towards them. The area immediately went up in smoke and all she could hear was coughing and cussing, a grin came to her face when she heard Merrill call her a dirty nug licker. She stumbled from the ground shaking and turned to see Hawke and Aveline laying in the sand, before she could get to them, they were up and fighting. Within two strides, she was in front of her lover and jabbing both of her daggers into the qunari's kidneys. When the dust settled, the beach was littered with the dead and Hawke was limping towards a dead sarabass. She reached down and pulled free a golden necklace from around his neck. As she held it up, blue arcs shimmered across it and a made a sizzling sound.

"Hey Anders is this dangerous?" She waved it in the air at him.

"Why don't you hold on to it for a few days and then tell us?" He kept his distance but eyed it as best he could. "Its lyrium, give it to Sandal to play with, it's too dangerous for any of us to have, the Templars will smell that thing and hunt us down."

"Do we have a naughty mage we can give it to?" She wiggled her brows and saw his disapproving look. "Ohh lighten up, there's got to be some mage out there that needs an ass kicking." She grinned when he took it form her hands by two fingers and dropped it into a leather pouch.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," he sighed. "I know of a blood mage that is causing problems, I'll plant it and then leave a note for Cullen." He walked away and started searching the dead for anything useful.

Chapter Nine

Hawke jumped from the slap to her armor and then tried to get away from Isabela's inspecting hands. "Hey no grope fest in front of the kids." She tried to get away but failed when Isabela locked eyes with her.

"Hold still and let me look." She un-strapped the cuisses from her right thigh and saw blood running through the chain mail beneath and out across to where it was dripping into the sand. "Where's Bethany or spirit boy, you need healed?"

"It's just a scratch," she winced from probing fingers and all of a sudden felt light headed. "Ok so maybe it's more than a scratch…" She fell straight back into the sand with a loud clatter and just lay there.

"What did she do this time?" Bethany asked as she leaned over Isabela's shoulder.

"Looks like something made its way between the bottom of the cuisses and top of the poleyn." Aveline said and un-strapped the faulds on that side. "Let's pull all this off her and make sure there's no other holes that need plugged…" she looked up to see amused amber eyes looking at her. "Forget I said it that way." They went to work and pretty soon they had her down to just her small clothes. She had a few small stab wounds and cuts but nothing as serious as the one to her thigh.

"Ahhh how cute, her name is on her small clothes." Merrill pointed to where 'Hawke' was written across the front of her undershirt. "Is that so she doesn't forget who she is?"

Isabela snorted and shook her head. "She thinks if she does that, I won't steal her clothes."

"I take it that it doesn't work." Aveline snorted when she saw a smirk come across Isabela's lips.

Varric leaned over Bethany's shoulder and looked down at an almost naked Hawke. "Hey no one told us that we could strip Hawke of her armor when she went down, I could have retired by now from selling off her stuff if I had known." He grinned when an ice blue eye opened and a fist waved in the air. "I saw that, so did you really drop or was this a ploy to get manhandled by all these women?"

"Ohh yeah, I've always wanted my baby sister to grope me." She struggled to sit up and winced from the sharp pain shooting through her thigh. "Damn that hurts," she grabbed the area and saw that she now had a three inch pink scar. "Did it go through?"

"Yep, what ever it was, so it's gonna hurt for a while." Bethany replied and then waved a hand over a small slice on her ribcage. "How did they get through your armor in so many places?" She looked up at Aveline and pointed at her. "How about you, you were right next to her through out the battle, any cuts I should know about?"

"I don't feel anything," she jumped up and down and moved every which way before stopping with a grimace on her face. "I think we better look." With everyone's help, she was free of her guard captains armor and standing in just her small clothes.

"I'll leave the rest up to you ladies; me and the boys will search the camp and burn the bodies." Varric gave them a salute and wandered off towards the Qunari camp.

Isabela reached down into the sand and picked up a sharp five inch piece of thin metal, she turned it in her fingers and stopped when she saw blood all over it. "Those sons of bitches look at this." She handed it to Aveline. "They're throwing grenades with those pieces of metal in them, that stuff slices right through anything." She looked around and then went over to where one of the karashok lay with a leather bag at his side; she unbuckled it from around his waist and searched the contents. Her cussing drew the attention of her friends. "Bugger it all!" She held out a dark brown grenade the size of a melon and shook it. "I've seen these before; the coiterre was selling these in darktown last year."

Aveline took it from her hand and examined it. "So did the coiterre make these or did the Qunari, remember that blasting powder we heard they had?"

"No idea," she shrugged her shoulders. "Only one way to find out," She dropped it back into the bag and then buckled the bag around her waist. "Let's go home, the nug licker is tired." She cast a grin at a blushing Merrill.

Hawke lay in bed totally exhausted and barely able to keep her eyes open, the long walk home from the wounded coast was worse than usual. Dressed in only her chain mail and everyone carrying a piece of her armor, she still struggled. She knew that the long nights of sex with her lover weren't helping any either. They were both dragging ass as of late and as much as she hated the idea, they would have to slow down.

Her body throbbed and ached from her injuries, even with healing, she still hurt worse than ever before. Bethany and Anders both told her it was from the force of the concussion grenade and that it would take time for her to get back to normal. Just as sleep was about to over take her, she felt a warm body press up against her back and an arm wrap around her waist. "Is that you my paragon of manliness?" She asked in a low mumble.

"Sure is sweet thing," Isabela spooned against her and buried her face in her dark hair. "Go to sleep, everything will be better in the morning."

The next morning, Hawke woke to the feeling of warmth beneath her cheek and a thumping in her ear. She opened one eye to close it quickly from the bright light that streamed in through the window. Shielding her face with a hand, she raised her head and looked down into the face of her lover. It wasn't often that she got to see her this way, she looked so vulnerable and there was a softness about her that pulled at her heart. Most mornings, she woke alone with just the scent of Isabela's perfume lingering on her pillow. This is what she prayed for, to wake up next to this woman every morning for the rest of her life.

"What are you thinking?" Isabela asked and ran a hand through Hawke's tangled dark hair.

"Ohh…I was thinking about scrambled eggs with some crispy bacon and sweet tea and us eating in bed." She looked down into sleepy amber eyes and felt her heart flutter in her chest.

"Liar," she pulled her back down into bed and hugged her. "I know what you want but that's not me, I'm like the sea, I can't be tamed." She placed a kiss to the crown of her head and took a deep breath. "But I can be convinced to do this more often," she rolled to her side and brought their foreheads together. "As much as I hate to admit it, I do enjoy waking up with you." She placed a soft kiss to her lips and then groaned when she heard a loud knock come to the door.

"Ser Shag-a-lot are you decent?" Bethany asked as she barged into her sister's room. "Of coarse not, you've got Isabela in your bed." She stopped and took in how they were lying and shook her head. "Unbelievable, you both have clothes on," she sat on the edge of the bed and looked between them. "And I'm writing this down, it's almost noon and you're still here." She pointed to Isabela and smirked.

"What can I say, Hawke here offered me food and I never pass up a free meal."

"Free is your middle name," she dropped a note on her sister's chest and waited for her to read it. "I have no idea why he gave it to me instead of you."

_Serah Hawke,_

_I know that it was you who killed my patrol, know this, I am coming for you and I will succeed where my brother failed._

_Arishok _

"The Arishok gave you this?" Hawke waved it at her.

"Nope, not him, one of his flunky junior horn heads but it's about the same."

Isabela read the note and growled. "Not this again, it's like an endless nightmare!" She fell back into the bed and dropped her hands over her eyes. "What are we going to do; we can't keep worrying about them coming here?"

Hawke eased herself out of the bed and sat on the edge until the bells stopped ringing in her ears. "First, we find out where they're getting those grenades and then we figure out how to defend against them." She looked over her shoulder at Isabela. "Look what it did to me in plate armor, what would it do to you or Bethany or anyone else?"

Bethany chewed on a nail and looked to her sister. "Can Sandal make an enchantment to ward us against something like this?"

Hawke shrugged her shoulders. "We can ask him and if he can't then we're going to have to have our ranged forces take out anyone that has a satchel."

"Take them out before they get close enough to do damage to one of us." Bethany said and nodded her head. "It'll be tough seeing them at a distance but we can get closer to the action and throw up arcane shielding or stone armor." She thought a moment and looked to them. "Maybe we can get the mages from the circle to help, Aveline has archers in the guard ranks and I can call on the wardens, they owe me."

Isabela got out of bed, stretched her arms over her head and groaned when her back popped. "I can get help from Zevran and some of my crew are very capable fighters." She moved over to sit beside Hawke and looked into her exhausted face. "How soon do you think they'll attack?"

"I'll check with Aveline and see what her guards that patrol that area have seen; maybe we can keep them down at the coast and away from the city."

"Or I can send two of my ships out and blow them right out of the water; I've been having my crew rig two of them with cannons and reinforced the bow and sides with silverite." She saw the looks on their faces and rolled her eyes. "No I didn't steal the stuff, I traded new sails for some of it and I won a few of the cannons playing cards. I'm an honest business woman now, Hawke's bad influence on me and all."

"And what business would this be?" Bethany asked with raised brows.

"Spices, herbs, silk cloth, sugar and my favorite, chocolate from Orlais."

Hawke moaned with the thought of the rich chocolate that Isabela had given her. "That stuff is so good, especially when strawberries are dipped in it."

"But Isabela can't have strawberries; she blows up like a puffer fish and gets that nasty rash everywhere." She had treated her a couple times to save them the headache that Anders would have caused with his rumors about the rash. At first she believed what he had told her, which was until she found out from her sister that Isabela had not been with anyone but her in a long time and that it was in fact a food allergy.

"Ohh I found something else to put chocolate on." She winked at Bethany and then got up from the bed. "I'm going to the kitchen to search for food."

Chapter Ten

Bethany waited to make sure that she and her sister were alone before she questioned her about Isabela. "I've been hearing stuff in some…establishments, is it that wild with her in bed or is it all an exaggeration?"

"Ohhh believe me, there's no exaggeration." She reached over and pulled a small bottle from inside the drawer beside her bed. "If not for this stuff, I'm sure I'd be dead."

Bethany read the label and snorted. "I got a letter about this stuff; this is that male enhancement elixir." She looked to her sister with a raised brow. "Sandal didn't enchant you somehow and that's why you need this stuff is it?"

"If I did have a wanker, I'm sure it would have fallen off from over use. You have no idea what she can do to you or for how long." She fell back on the bed and just lay there staring up at the ceiling. "I'm keeping all the herbalists and potion dealers in Kirkwall in business. Sandal keeps my room stocked with stamina potions and enhancement elixir."

Bethany busted up laughing and wiped tears from her eyes. "Funny you should say that, I saw Bodahn giving Isabela a satchel the other day and it was making clinking noises, I think you're both keeping the dealers in business. Maybe you two can get a discount if you throw your orders together?" She busted out laughing again when Hawke groaned. "I'm gonna see if Varric can get you two put up for the paragons of sexual stupidity." She got up from the bed and looked down at her blushing sister. "And by the way Ser Shag-a-lot, that talisman is bogus, it's all you." She left the room still chuckling and busted out laughing when she passed Isabela. "You two really need to talk."

Isabela looked at her and then to where her lover was laying on the bed with her hands over her face, all of a sudden she became worried. "Now what?" She mumbled to herself on her way into the bedroom. "What was so damn funny, I heard her all the way downstairs?" She placed a tray of food on the bed and then crawled up to the top to sit with her back against the wall.

"I guess now is as good as time as any to tell you this." Hawke said in a soft voice before she sat up on the bed with her back to her lover. "This has to end, I can't do it anymore." She heard Isabela sigh and then the bed shook as she got up. When she turned, she saw that she was collecting what few items she had sitting around. "What are you doing?"

"Getting my stuff, no sense in hanging around."

"Hold on and let me finish," she reached out and took her by the hand. "We've been competing in the bedroom without even knowing it." She let go of her hand, reached under the bed and pulled out a wooden crate. She placed it on the bed and waved a hand at it and then picked up the small bottle of elixir and handed it to her. "I've been taking all of that stuff just to keep up with you."

Isabela chuckled and winked at her. "Male enhancement elixir, it really works?" She moved over to her side of the bed and pulled a leather satchel from underneath it. "I've just been using stamina potions, here I thought I was inadequate or something, losing my mojo or the Maker forbid, getting old."

"Nope, none of the above." She stepped into her personal space and wrapped her arms around her. "I think they have meetings for this sort of problem."

"Those are called orgies sweet thing."

Chapter Eleven

Isabela looked back over her shoulder and snorted, Daisy was fighting Anders for a piece of cheese from a vender. She had no idea but they all hit the market together to do their shopping, it reminded her of a huge family outing with the exception of parents. There was the bickering, shoving, name calling and hair pulling. Daisy threatened to put a hex on Anders the next time he pulled her hair and went as far as reciting the spell before Bethany stopped her. "Daisy has grown some claws." She said only loud enough for her lover to hear. "Sis do that to her?"

"I'm surprised she doesn't have horns growing from her forehead as well," she looked over her shoulder at the couple and rolled her eyes. "Can you imagine the damage those two can do to a bedroom if their magic gets away from them?"

Isabela stopped, thought of what they could do to each other with certain spells and felt her mouth drop open. "They could end up crispy or giving out electrical shocks to anyone that gets too close to them," she wiggled her brows and then hitched a thumb over her shoulder at Anders. "He knows all about that stuff, he was infamous at the Whore house in Fereldon. Certain clients like to get what we called sac shocks." She laughed at the pained expression on Hawke's face. "We knew which ones got it to; they came out of the back room with smoke rising from their crotches."

"Only a guy would want something like…" she saw a brow rise across her lover's forehead and was afraid to finish her sentence. "You didn't…I mean not that I see anything." She sighed when Isabela wiggled a brow at her and gave her a smirk. "Did it hurt real bad?"

"Do you honestly think I would let some idiot mage zap my port like that," she bumped shoulders with her. "I just like fucking with you," she leaned into her body and ran a hand up the inside of her thigh. "But I really like fucking you, are we almost done here?"

To Isabela's annoyance, they continued to shop for another hour. To help make up for the delay, Hawke bought her one of her favorite treats. That was something that anyone witnessing it would never forget or be able to look at a peach again without blushing. If there was a will, then Isabela would find a way to make something ordinary, sexual. With just one bite of a peach, she had everyone around them staring with dropped jaws. Or maybe it was how she offered the slice of peach held between her teeth to her lover. The exchange that came with sharing that piece of fruit had many a man dropping his hands over his crotch or stepping behind a vender table to hide a certain bulging area.

"Now here is the true study of human kind," Varric pointed to Isabela and Hawke. "There we have pure unadulterated lust and kinky shit and over here," he pointed to where Bethany and Merrill were sitting close beside one another sharing some bread, cheese and a bottle of wine. The whole time they spoke softly and shared a smile or gentle touch. "And here we have young love, so…"

"Boring!" Isabela barked. "Unless you happen to be within close proximity of them when they're fucking like rabbits, then that's exciting." She licked and sucked on Hawke's fingers and smirked from the clearing of throats. "What?" She rolled her eyes at them. "And how do you guys eat peaches without getting the juice all over your fingers?" She asked with a lift of her brows.

"Well, I usually just wash my hands afterwards." Varric said and then looked to Anders and Fenris. "And if either of you is thinking of feeding me a peach, I'll let Bianca loose."

Isabela leaned over and gave Varric a good view of her cleavage. "Can I play with Bianca?"

"NO!" He pressed his crossbow to his chest and backed up from her. "No matter what you promise her, she won't cheat on me…Andraste's tit I've gone barking mad." He rubbed his forehead and turned in the direction of home.

Fenris shook his head and got to his feet. "I'm heading back home; I have a few more bottles of that nasty ass wine to splash on the walls. I've gotten quite good at it, I may have a side job when things get slow. You know how the rich assholes like crappy art and all; I've made a few good resemblances of Andraste with the stuff and I have interested parties that want it on their estate walls." He shrugged his shoulders and wandered off towards home.

"I have to get back to the clinic, its disease of the week day." Anders looked right at Isabela. "And I don't want to see you there."

"Ohh sweet thing I think that was a low blow to you, he's saying you're diseased."

"No I think he's saying that when you show up, all the men point at you and scream '**thief**." She shrugged her shoulders. "Did you think I wouldn't hear about you stealing their clothes while they were being examined?"

"Hey I thought it would be funny to see them try and make it home naked."

Chapter Twelve

On the way back to the Hanged Man, Isabela stopped at a fruit vender and a bought a bag of apples. She then made her way to where all the orphan children played outside of the chantry and handed out the fruit to them. What she didn't see was Sebastian watching from the wall above her. He looked to the sky and said a silent thank you to the Maker. He knew that the pirate wasn't as bad as she wanted everyone to believe and he prayed everyday that she let a little bit of her true self be seen. He smiled down at the kids and went back into the Chantry to begin evening prayer.

Isabela folded the bag up, shoved it into her belt and wandered towards the back door of the Chantry's kitchen. She knocked once before opening the door and walking into the dim kitchen. She sniffed the air and smelled the stew that was simmering on the cook stove and then saw the table covered in loaves of fresh bread.

"Mother Anna?" She called out as she walked through the rooms and finally found the old woman sitting at a table peeling potatoes.

"Isabela, I didn't think I'd see you today."

"Well, it was a slow day, no bad guys to fight or anything." She dropped down into a chair across from her. "Marion dragged me out shopping again." She leaned forward, grabbed a potato and stated peeling it with one of her daggers. "I hate shopping; I'd rather pay someone to do it."

Mother Anna looked to the younger woman with tired rheumy eyes and smiled. "But then you wouldn't get to enjoy Ser Hawke's company, you would be sitting at the Hanged Man complaining that you were bored or what not."

"I don't complain that often, I just hate walking from vender to vender and seeing the same stuff over and over again." At the thought of the fruit vender, her cheeks turned a slight pink.

"Ahhh I see you were bad, what did you do this time?" She wiggled her grey brows at her. "Did Sebastian yell at you?" The older woman had known Sebastian since he had been placed in the Chantry; she never missed an opportunity to tease the young man.

"It wasn't much," she looked down at the potato in her hand and chuckled. "Hawke bought me a sweet juicy peach and I kinda forgot that we weren't alone while eating it." She shrugged her shoulders and sighed when she noticed the rapt attention she had gained. "All the men in the area will never look at a peach the same way, at least not without getting all hard." She gave Mother Anna a smirk. "And poor Hawke almost dropped over when I was sucking the peach juice from her fingers."

"I remember those days of being young and wild," she sighed and went back to work. "Now a wild time for me is remembering where I live and which room is mine."

"I have the same problem," she thought about it for a minute and groaned. "And forgetting where I've left my clothes, it seems that most of them are at Hawke's these days."

"Why not just move in with her, you practically live there anyways and we both know how you feel about her?"

Isabela raised an eyebrow at her. "We do?"

"I may be half blind and senile but I can see love when its right in front of me and you can't deny it. Clerics fat ass, just give in and tell her already, what can it hurt?"

"My reputation…shit!" She dropped her head and closed her eyes in frustration. "She's _the_ Champion of Kirkwall and I'm a thieving no count pirate that thinks more of her self than any one else."

"Keep on trying there Isabela," she leaned across the table and tapped her on her forehead. "I know better, I see you giving the kids fruit and I know you're the one who brings all those clothes and blankets for them and then there's this." She tossed a few small leather pouches on the table.

"What are those?" She feigned ignorance.

"Those are yours," she pointed to where there was a letter 'I' sewn on the one bag. "With the exception of this one," she flipped it over to show 'Anders' written on it. "I bet he has no idea you stole his coins?"

"He lost to me at cards," she slapped a hand to her forehead. "I can't believe this, every time I come and see you; I end up spilling all of my secrets." She pulled another leather bag from her belt and handed it over to Anna. "Since my secret is out, I might as well pass up the donation box from now on and just give the coin to you."

"Why are you so afraid of anyone knowing what you do for the Chantry?"

"It's better this way,"

"Really, its better that everyone doesn't know you actually have a heart?" Sebastian said from the doorway.

"I think I'll just go throw myself in the harbor or find a ditch to lie face down in." She got up and was surprised when he pushed her back down into the chair.

"I've known from the very beginning what you've been doing here," He squeezed her shoulder before taking a seat next to her to help peel potatoes. "Your secret is safe with me."

She gave him a raised eyebrow. "And why should I believe that?"

"Because I'll put my foot up his bony ass, that's why." Mother Anna said.

"Or use that switch you have in your room," he looked to Isabela. "She still has the switch she used on me when I was a kid."

"So you like being whipped," the pirate gave him a wicked smirk. "I just happen to know a woman who specializes in that sort of thing."

Chapter Thirteen

"No…no…NO!" Aveline shook her head and jammed a finger into Hawke's chest.

"Why not," she shrugged her shoulders at her. "What can go wrong?"

"You're the wrong person to ask that, if you're involved, every thing can go wrong."

"Come on, we take one of Isabela's ships out towards where this new Arishok is, scout him out and head back into port, easy."

"Except that neither one of us knows how to sail a ship!"

"I've watched Isabela do it lots of times, it doesn't look that hard."

"How can you watch when you're puking your guts over the rail?" Aveline asked with a grin. "And that was before you guys even left the damn slip!"

"Go ahead and laugh it up, I'm sure I can find something on you to wave in your face."

"For the right price I can make something up and spread it around." Varric offered as he came into Aveline's office. "But if you want something of the sexual nature, ask your girlfriend, she's a genius in that area." His eyes twinkled when he saw the slight pink running up Hawke's neck. "Ohh but then you know all about that first hand…fingers…has she showed you what she can do to your toes?" He busted out laughing when Hawke cleared her throat and left the room. "Guess that was a huge yes."

Aveline dropped into her chair and eyed Varric. "If you say you're here to try and convince me to do something unlawful, forget it!"

"Please," he waved a hand at her and then produced a scroll wrapped with a leather tie. "I came to give you this, I had a ahhh…friend scare this up, it might be useful." She unrolled it across her desk and started reading; she looked up halfway through it and gave him a smirk.

"So how did Isabela get this?"

"Like everything else she gets, her charm."

"More likely she got on one of the qunari's ships and stole it."

"Let's just say it was found floating in the harbor inside a wine bottle."

She looked over the scroll and swore under her breath. "Tell me that they're not this dumb that they would leave a battle plan just lying around for someone to steal?"

"I'm thinking that they are and did and we're to do the opposite of what they think we would do if we didn't know what they had planned…owww that really hurt my brain and confused me." He rubbed at his forehead. "I wonder if this is how Merrill feels all the time."

"We need to get everyone together and discuss this, get our defensive plan ready." She rolled it back up and looked around her office for a place to hide it. "Shit."

"Stick it in Merrill's planter; no one will go near those man eating flowers but her." He stuck a finger out close to the bud and jumped when the strange thing came at him. "Scariest damn thing I've ever seen and I'm sure I don't want to know where she got it or why she gave it to you."

Hawke sighed and shook her head; it just amazed her that they couldn't have a nice quiet stroll on a full moon night without some idiots wanting to attack them. She wondered if a council meeting should be called or maybe flyers sent out with their pictures on them saying that if you attack these people, you will die horribly. She still liked Varric's idea of putting 'don't' on signs and then smacking people with them when they did something stupid. But of course Aveline said no and now they had to kill all these stupid men just so they could continue their walk. "For the love of Andraste, go home or die." She waved a hand at the stupid men. "Just take a look, we have huge swords and you guys have tiny little paring knives."

"I can get hurt worse pruning rose bushes than what these losers can do," Merrill said and held out a sore finger. "See, I got this today."

"We out number you three to one and we ain't got no weak women or mages!" One of them spouted and waved his tiny knife around.

"Weak?" Bethany growled and had to be held back by Varric. "I'll show you weak!" She zapped him with a lightning bolt and watched as his greasy hair stood on end and then caught fire. "How's that for weak you fucking scumbag!"

Isabela clapped her hands. "Baby sis has some spunk tonight!" She ducked a punch coming towards her face and kicked the guy in his nuts. "Stupid move asshole." She finished him off with a stomp to his throat before moving on to the next one.

When it came down to just a handful of men, Hawke threw up a hand and sighed. "I'll give you one more chance to run or we kill you, what about it?"

"Nope, but how about you throw your sword down and give us all your coin?" The leader suggested with a toothless smirk.

Hawke turned around and faced her lover, she gave her a crooked grin before she handed off her sword and yanked a small tin cup from a passing beggar's hand. "I'll use this and you use whatever." She said to the man and then dodged his thrust. In just a few moves, he was falling to the ground with the tin cup protruding from his forehead. "Who wants to be next, I just so happen to have a spoon in my pocket?" The remaining men took off leaving the small group to sigh and then loot the bodies for valuables.

Varrick shook his head and clapped Hawke on her shoulder. "I can't believe you killed that guy with a tin cup."

"He asked for it, I gave him the chance to take off but…" She shrugged her shoulders. She then spun around to look into a dark alley and held up a hand to Varric and Isabela. "Did you guys hear that?" The sound came again and had Hawke taking her sword from her lover. "Varric have the others stand by while we take a look, might be more trouble waiting for us." She moved slowly into the darkness and felt Isabela right behind her, she moved against a wall and waited for another noise. What came to their ears was a low scratching and then rustling.

"Sounds like someone's trying to hide." Isabela whispered in her ear and grinned when she felt her shiver against her. "I'll take a look, you watch my back."

Isabela moved into the darkness with ease, she watched ahead of her but saw nothing moving and then she heard the noise. Moving closer to a wooden crate, she peered inside and saw a mother cat nursing her kittens. "Its all clear Hawke," she moved close to her, grabbed her hand and yanked her into the darkness. "Now gimme some before Varric comes checking." Hawke found herself pushed up against a wall and her mouth attacked in a hungry kiss. Isabela's hands made quick work of Hawke's cod piece and pushed her own leather trousers down to her knees. She was about to run her fingers between her lovers wet folds when she felt a sharp pain in her ass. "Ohh you're feisty tonight." She groaned when Hawke's fingers ran through her hair pulling her closer to her and then her other hand slipped between her thighs. What confused her was the sharp pain in her ass again. She pulled back from their kiss and looked into Hawke's glowing eyes. "Did you just pinch my ass?"

"Nope," she wiggled her fingers inside of her and ran the others down to play with her cleavage." "Wasn't me…" She grunted from being shoved into the wall and then almost fell on her ass when Isabela spun around and jumped sideways into her.

"Get it off!" She yelled and tried to see what was attached to her ass. "Owwww damn, it bites hard!" She yelled again and then found all of their friends standing in the alley way with them. "Someone get this thing off me!" She stumbled towards them and fell into Bethany's arms.

"Look at that little cuddly baby kitty." Anders cooed as he pulled the tabby kitten from where it was hanging from Isabela's bare ass." He held it up to his face and smiled into amber colored eyes. "Good kitty biting the hoe bags ass," He looked to where Isabela was pulling her pants up and raised an eyebrow. "Serves you right," He looked to see Hawke buckling her cod piece in place. "Can't you two wait until we get done before you attack each other?"

"No, now shut up." Isabela growled. "This night just sucks," she grabbed Hawke's hand and pulled her towards home. "I like a little pain but getting my ass shredded by a cat is ridiculous!" She limped on and smacked a chuckling Hawke.

Chapter Fourteen

Isabela tried looking over her shoulder, across her hip and every other which way to see how bad the damage was from the cat. With every step she took, she felt pain. "Ohhh come on, this is just ridiculous." She limped over to her bed and dropped down onto her stomach. "Leave it up to me to get mauled by a cat and not get any sex on top of it." She pulled her pillow under her head and stared off towards the wall. "What am I gonna do?" She thought of Hawke's estate where everything was big and colorful and of the quiet sounds that came from within the walls and the smells of cooking food that made her mouth water. But what always came to the forefront of her mind, was the smell of Hawke's sandal wood soap and perfume. "Why would I want to leave this wonderful place and live with Hawke?" She pulled her pillow over her head when banging, grunts and all kinds of other noises came from the room next door. And then the stench of urine came through the cracks in her door. "Andraste's tit, go piss somewhere else you shit head!" She yelled from her bed and then decided that she would put an end to the disgusting pig. She got up from her bed, grabbed a dagger and then yanked the door open to find a drunken asshole pissing on the wall beside it. She pulled back a fist, slammed it into the side of his head and watched as he fell over and pissed all over himself. "That's it I've had it!" She went back into her room and grabbed a bag to put her few possessions in. The entire way down to the docks, she replayed her and Hawke's argument over in her head.

"Come on Bella can't we just go back to my place?" Hawke pleaded as they stepped over the vomit outside of Isabela's room.

"Just ignored the puke, sweet thing," she pulled her into the room, slammed the door and then shoved her up against the wall. "Better yet, I'll take your mind off it." She ran a hand down across Hawke's breast and leaned in to nip at her neck. Hawke ran her fingers down across Isabela's chest and started working on the buttons of her silk shirt. She had all but forgotten about how disgusting the Hanged Man was when the wall behind her shook and then cussing came to their ears. "Sodding son of a bitch!" The voice yelled out and brought up both women's heads to look towards the door.

"Ohhh Varric does not sound happy." Isabela said and then chuckled when she thought about him slipping in the puke. She looked to Hawke when she stepped away from her. "What's wrong?"

"This," Hawke waved to the dreary, dusty, moldy room. "This isn't you Bela, you could live at the estate with the others or live with me but this place is just…" She waved her hands around and then saw the fire erupt in her lovers eyes.

"This is exactly who I am, I'm not rich or noble, I'm just a pirate wench and I refuse to be a kept woman!" She yanked the door open and pointed. "I think you had better run along back to your fancy estate."

"Bela…" Hawke said in a low voice and stepped towards her.

"You come near me and so help me I will drop you in less than a heartbeat."

Hawke took a deep breathe, sighed and then made her way out the door and into the hallway. Before she could turn around, the door was slammed at her back. "Shit, you screwed that up Marion," she ran a hand across her face and took a step only to slide and fall into the wall across from her. "Sodding asshole!"

Isabela tried not to grin when she heard the loud bang and then Hawke yell but failed. She may be mad as Hell at her but it was funny that she slipped in the puke; it would have been even funnier if she had fallen in it. She knew that before morning the mess would be gone, someone would fall in it and wipe it up with their clothes. Which brought a disgusted groan and shiver from the pirate. "They really need to keep the riff-raff from coming up here." She paced her room until she just gave up and fell across her lumpy straw filled mattress.

Totally exhausted, covered in dirt, blood and what she thinks to be some kind of garlic sauce, Isabela made her way to the back door to Hawke's kitchen. With the flip of a wrist, the lock pick clicked inside the lock. As quietly as she could, she opened the door and looked into the darkness before her. As she stepped in, she listened for any sound before she closed the door and made her way to the bathing room. As she filled the tub, she stripped out of her tattered clothes and dropped them into a pile on the floor. She used two of the runestones and then slipped into the hot water. She would have liked to just stay there for the rest of the night but the water got cold and her teeth were starting to chatter. After she was out and dried off, she looked for Hawke's robe but didn't find it. Dropping the wet towel with her dirty clothes, she shoved everything into a linen bag and put it next to the back door. "I'll wash it in the morning."

She yawned and made her way through the kitchen and into the outer room that lead to the staircase. She never saw Bodahn step from his chambers, his mouth dropped open in surprise as she walked past him in all her glory. "I sure hope she's not in a pissy mood." She said in a low voice as she climbed the stairs. Once she was at the door to Hawke's chambers, she took a deep breath, opened the door quietly and stepped in. She waited a minute for her eyes to adjust and then made her way over to the huge bed. What she found was depressing, the bed was empty. "She must be really pissed at me if she's not here." She climbed into the bed, pulled the covers up to her chin and rolled over onto her side. Before her mind could form another thought, she was sound asleep.

Hawke looked to Aveline with murder in her pale blue eyes; she clenched her fists and rose one up at her. "You dragged me out of my nice warm bed for this?" She pointed to at least two dozen dead bodies littering the area and she knew if they ventured further, they would find more. "Who ever it was that reported this should have made it clear that the burial cart was needed, not me." She saw Aveline look to the ground and run a hand across the back of her neck. "Spill it."

"It was Donnic, he sent a runner back to the barracks, which then came to me." She looked up at her friend and shrugged her shoulders. "He said that it was like a full out war going on down here but it was too dark to know who was who and he didn't want to jump in since he was by himself."

"So he has no clue who was fighting who?" She turned when she heard his voice.

"What I saw was unexplainable," he stopped beside his wife and rested a hand on her arm. "All I saw was this black thing flying from one thug to the next and the glittering of a daggers blade every once in a while. I was scared shitless I was next when it stopped and looked right at me." He cleared his throat and tried to hide the blush running up his cheeks. "Its eyes glowed red and it was making this growling noise when not mumbling incoherently."

"Sounds like Bethany in the morning." Hawke said and snickered at the thought of her loving sister scaring the shit out of Merrill every morning. "Great, now we have some creature to worry about on top of everything else." She rubbed her tired eyes and sighed deeply. "I'm going home, if anyone sees this creature, send them to Meredith…wait it might be her so scratch that." She waved her hands in the air and just gave up. "I'm going back to bed."

Donnic looked to Aveline and shrugged his shoulders. "That sounds like an excellent idea, let's go home." He took his wife's hand and they walked off towards home, someone would take care of the bodies in the morning.

Chapter fifteen

Hawke walked up the stairs and to her chambers door, she thought that she had closed it before she left but couldn't remember. She went inside, closed the door and walked towards her bed, by the time she got there, she was bare ass naked. She slipped beneath the covers, rolled to her side and almost jumped back out when she felt a warm body against her chest. Moving slowly, she lifted the covers and saw dark unruly hair covering the pillow and a low snore. "Bela." She whispered before wrapping around her lover's warm body.

The next morning, she woke from a deep groan coming from the other side of the bed and then a loud hiss before cussing. "Shit shit shit…double shit." Isabela grumbled to herself. "Sodding nug farmers…all of them."

"Bela?" Hawke rolled to her side and tried to pry her eyes open.

"Sorry sweet thing, go back to sleep." She bit her lip when she tried to stand and just gave up and sat on the side of the bed. "I give up." She eased back down into the bed and moaned when her muscles screamed at her.

"Are you ok, you sound terrible?"

"I over did my workout last night and now I'm paying for it." She whimpered and wanted to cry but that would be an Anders thing. "A few shots of whiskey and I'll be ready to kick some ass again...by next week"

"Next week?" Hawke lifted herself up onto an elbow and looked down into the pallid face of her normally tan lover. "What happened to you?" She got out of bed, came around on Isabela's side and pulled back the covers. She gasped when she saw all the bruises, cuts and abrasions covering her body. When she brought her eyes up to her face, she saw the bruised jaw, black eye and cut above her left eyebrow. "Why didn't you go see…never mind." She trailed her fingers across her cheek and leaned forward to place a soft kiss to her lips. "I'll send for Bethany." She got up from the bed and pulled her robe on. She cast one more glance at Isabela before she headed for the door. She ran her fingers through her hair and tried to think of how to broach the subject of where she had been that she had gotten so beat up. It was unlike her to end up in such bad shape and she wondered if it was because of their argument that night.

As she went into the kitchen, she saw Bodahn look up from the stove and offer her a smile. "Good morning Ser, breakfast is almost ready, how is Isabela?"

She looked to him with a raised brow. "Suffering, when did she get here?"

"I saw her late last night; you had already left with the Captain." He pointed to a pile of clothes on the floor. "I was going to do the wash but those clothes of hers are beyond washing."

"What do you mean?" She asked as she went over to them and picked up the black silk shirt, she shook it out and groaned. "I see why, way too many holes to fix…I wonder." She picked up the black leather trousers and shook her head. "What were you doing Bela?"

"Cleaning up the streets or trying to," she limped up to her and let out a string of cuss words. "Damn, this is getting expensive, now I know why you wear armor."

Bodahn handed each of them a cup and paid extra attention to Isabela. "What army did you tangle with?"

"It was the rabid kitten brigade; damn things came out of everywhere last night."

Isabela flinched when Bethany ran her fingers across her ribcage and tried to smack at her hands. "Stop being a baby," she said as she examined her back. "Did you get run over by a Qunari army or something?"

"Badass kittens," she flinched again. "Paybacks for their sister being kidnapped the other night, I gave them Anders' address."

"I wanna see you tell Aveline that, better yet Donnic." Hawke said as she handed her sister a salve for the cuts on Isabela's back.

"Shit, he was the one hiding in the alley way wasn't he, why the Hell didn't he help me?"

"You scared him; he thought you were a demon." Hawke said with a chuckle.

"He must have seen how your eyes glow," Bethany snickered. "It's creepy really, almost as creepy as Hawke's eyes."

"My eyes don't glow," Isabela looked between the sisters and shook her head. "You two need to see Anders and have him check your eye sight."

"Ohh but they do glow, like two pieces of copper in the fires flame…hey I gotta remember that for one of my stories." Varric winced when he saw all the damage on Isabela's body. "How many did you tangle with?"

"No idea but I thought it was never gonna end, every time I dropped one, two showed up, it was like this nightmare I have on occasion."

"Aveline said there were 20 bodies found and blood trails leading off from where the fight was." Hawke added with a shrug of her shoulders before she stepped in front of her and cupped her battered face between her hands. "Don't you ever do that again, you could have been killed."

"Stop with the mushy stuff already." Varric kicked Hawke in her leg. "You're nauseating my bardic muse with that stuff."

Isabela sighed and dropped her head into her hands. "You know, I don't think there's a single soul left in Kirkwall that hasn't seen me either naked or in my small clothes?" She searched behind her for Hawke's robe and pulled it over part of her naked body.

"Is that supposed to be news to us?" Varric asked as he looked around at the others.

"HA! Not funny Varric." She got up from the chair she had been sitting in and limped from the room. "I'm going back to bed and I'm taking the dog with me, we're going to discuss the proper disposal of cats and kittens." She whistled for the dog on her way towards the staircase.

"Ohhh touched a sore spot there…well from the looks of her there isn't a spot on her that's not sore." Varric shook his head and dropped into a chair. "She seems touchy today or more so than any other time she takes a beating."

Bethany pointed a finger at her sister. "It's her fault."

Hawke touched her chest and gave them both confused looks. "My fault…I didn't do anything."

"Exactly," Bethany replied. "If you weren't so damn dense at times?"

"At times, I thought she was that way all the time." Varric gave her a bright smile.

"What did I do to deserve all of this?"

Bethany stepped in front of her and jabbed a finger into her chest. "You pushed her didn't you, that's the only thing that sets her off is you pushing her button about her living in that nasty room in the hanged man."

Hawke looked to the floor and sighed, she knew what she had done but she wasn't sorry for it. "Bethy, some creep puked right outside her door," she pointed to Varric and herself. "We both slide through that disgusting mess and I know worse stuff goes on either in the rooms or in the hallways."

"Varric lives there so it can't be that bad…" Bethany looked to him and saw a slight blush run up his neck. "Or is it?"

"It's gotten worse, it's so bad that I moved out today and into one of the rooms at your other place, hope you don't mind Hawke."

"Of course I don't mind, that's why I invited everyone to live there." She dropped down into a chair and looked across the kitchen and out the door to where the garden was. "Even though she's pissed at me, she still came here last night."

Bethany and Varric both looked to each other and shook their heads, neither one of them was going to bring up the reason why Isabela returned to the estate. That was something that had to happen between Isabela and Hawke, even though everyone knew how they both felt about each other.

Hawke leaned forward on her chair and blinked her eyes a few times before she turned to her sister. "What in the name of the maker does Merrill have on her head?"

Bethany looked out to where her lover was pulling weeds in the garden and shrugged her shoulders. "That's her gardening hat; don't ask where she got it because I have no clue." She looked back out to see her adjust the over-sized brim of her hat and fight with the netting that protected her from flying insects. "I told her it looks like she has a fish net on her head; boy that got me into deep shit let me tell you."

Chapter Sixteen

Isabela sat in the center of the bed with scraps of cloth all around her, she held up a doll roughly a foot long in size. "Well, what do ya think?" She watched as Hawke's nameless dog tilted her head to the side. "Why hasn't she given you a name?" She looked into bright intelligent eyes and leaned down so that they were nose to nose. "I'll call you…pumpkin." She wiped at her face after getting a sloppy dog kiss. "Ok, so I've got all these clothes mended and a few more dolls and stuffed animals made for the kids." She eased over to the edge of the bed and was about to get up when a thought came to her. "Do you know where Hawke keeps her good wine?" She grinned when pumpkin barked at her and jumped off the bed. "Go steal me a bottle." She snorted as the dog took off out of the room and ran down the stairs. "That's so sweet; I may never have to get out of bed again."

Hawke watched as her dog ran past her and Sandal went into the pantry and came back out with a bottle of wine in her mouth. "Whoa there, where are you going with that?" She then watched as Sandal looped strap for a cloth bag over her head and then gave her a kiss on her nose.

"Good doggy." He then gave her a big hug before she trotted from the kitchen.

"What was that, Isabela's idea of room service?"

He gave her a big smile at the mention of her lover's name. "Not enchantment!" He placed his hands on his chest and gestured that he had breasts.

"You're right buddy, no enchantment there, that's all natural." She felt butterflies in her stomach when she thought of how Isabela moaned when she sucked on her nipples. "Defiantly no enchantment needed either." She mumbled as she headed for the stairs and what she hoped was some hot make-up sex. A small grin came to her face when she thought of the last time they had make-up sex, Isabela walked funny for two days.

What she found when she got to her chambers brought a smile to her face. She leaned against the door jamb and watched as her lover shared her bread, cheese and slices of meat with her dog.

"No wine for you this time, last time you almost fell down the stairs because you were drunk," she looked up and caught pale eyes watching her. "Hey Hawke, want some lunch, we'll share?"

"I see you have both my dog and Sandal trained for room service." She took a seat next to her, reached for her cup of wine and drank half. "Any plans for today?" She wiggled her eyebrow at her and leaned in to nuzzle her neck. "I can think of a few things we can do."

"As much as I would love to stay right here and have make-up sex with you, I have an appointment to make."

Hawke pulled back and looked at her lover with wide eyes; she couldn't believe that she had turned down sex. "What?"

"I have an appointment, you can come with me if you want, I'm meeting with the other woman in my life and she just loves strong strapping younger women like you." She got up from the bed, grabbed some clothes from the foot and started to dress. "She tells me all the time that if she wasn't already spoken for, she'd chase you down."

"You're full of shit Bela." She bit into a piece of cheese and then looked up into her lover's copper colored eyes and saw that she wasn't joking. "Andraste's tit…ok I'll go with you but only because I'm curious as to whom she is and who knows I may want to replace you."

"I'm irreplaceable sweet thing." She moved towards her and kissed her until she lay panting on the bed. "Now hurry up or we'll be late." She gathered up a bag from beside the bed and swung it over her shoulder with a hiss. "Come on Pumpkin, you need some exercise, your ass is getting fat."

"What?" Hawke gave her a stricken look. "My ass is getting fat?"

Isabela rolled her eyes and held out a hand to her. "Not you, the dog." She pulled a doll from her bag and tossed it to the dog. "Don't forget to take your baby."

"You have my dog playing with dolls to, what's next?"

"Do you really wanna go there sweet thing?"

Hawke sat at the battered wooden table looking between her lover and Mother Anna, she knew the second she had stepped into the Chantry that she had been had. And to make matters worse, they sat with matching grins on their faces. "So you think she'll do it?" Mother Anna asked Isabela in a soft whisper.

"Of course she will, she'll do anything for me." She leaned across the table giving Hawke an eye full of luscious cleavage. "Isn't that right sweet thing?" Hawke blinked her eyes and nodded her head. "See?"

"I see where my problem lies; I don't have huge tits or a cleavage, so there's no leverage over anyone. Not to mention, I'm older than the maker himself." She snapped her fingers in front of a dazed Hawke. "Come Ser Hawke, I have this barrel in the cellar that has to come up here; I need some muscles to work the ropes."

Hawke grunted and pulled on the rough rope for what seemed like hours. Even thought the rope ran through a set of pulleys attached to the ceiling in the large pantry, it was not as easy as she thought it would be. It should have been nothing to hoist the barrel up to the floor and she wondered if the ropes were twisted somewhere and that's why it was so hard. At one point, she thought she was going to burst a blood vessel before the damn barrel got up through the trap door. But finally, with one last heave, she felt Isabela brush her thigh as she grabbed the barrel and pulled it towards her.

"Ok, sweet thing let the rope go."

"I can't, my hands have cramped around it." She hissed when Isabela peeled one finger at a time from the rope and then couldn't help but chuckle when her arms fell limply to her sides. "My arms are dead…" she whimpered. "What is in that barrel a dead body?"

"Pickles, lots and lots of pickles." Mother Anna said as she grabbed a tool to pry the lid off. "I've been asking everyone in this sodding place to bring it up for me and they all ran out the door."

"I can see why." Hawke dropped into a chair and tried to get her arms up onto the table, after the third try, she left them hang at her sides. She sighed when she felt warm hands trace down her neck and then start to massage her shoulders and then down her arms. "We better not run into trouble tonight because I know for sure that I won't be able to lift my arms let alone my sword."

"Big girl is on patrol tonight around here, so we better not have any trouble or I'll hang my foot up her ass." Isabela said close to her ear and took that opportunity to nip her ear lobe.

"Why is she patrolling?"

"I heard that the crooks are all scared to come out because there's a demony thing with glowing eyes on the loose, ya know it killed a lot of thugs last night." She chuckled and pulled Hawke back into her body. "She's hoping to catch it, funny how no one told her it was me that took out all those thugs."

"I look at this as a good thing, maybe now we can catch a break and actually get a real rest." She leaned her head back on her lover's shoulder and closed her eyes. "I'm so tired of having to do battle every single time we step out on the street, sometimes I wish I was a mage so I could just toss a fireball and toast their asses."

"Two mages in one family…I don't even wanna think of the type of fights you and Bethany would have had. The house would have been burnt down before you guys were out of small clothes." She pressed her lips against Hawke's neck for a soft kiss and then nipped until she flinched. She looked across the kitchen to see that Mother Anna was busy with making supper and took the chance to run her hands down across Hawke's shoulders to her breasts and pinch her nipples.

"Isabela stop that!" Mother Anna's voice came from across the room.

"What?"

"Don't start with me; remember I have eyes in the back of my head. Now plant your ass across the table of I'll get my spoon out."

Hawke snickered and then jumped from the smack to the back of her head. She was about to retaliate but stopped when the older woman came over to the table and placed plates before them. "My other grandbrat is in town," she returned to the table and pointed a finger at Isabela. "He's worse than this one here."

Hawke looked to Isabela and grinned. "Is that possible?"

"You are walking on this ice champion." Isabela mumbled around a mouthful of food.

"She's a kitten compared to him but the whole damn family is bad, damn pirates every one of 'em."

"Hawke looked between the two of them and then replayed what Anna had said. "Wait a minute here…" she lifted a finger and waved it between them. "Your other grand…"

"Ohhh Isabela you didn't tell her," Mother Anna clapped her hands and laughed. "This is rich!"

"No I didn't tell her," She said between her teeth. "I mean how do you bring up that your grandmother lives in the Chantry?"

"Uhhmm…Bela just like that." Hawke said and gave her a wicked grin. "You're mystery is unraveling sweet thing."

"Shit…thanks grandmother." She dropped her head into her hands.

Chapter Seventeen

Isabela stood behind Hawke and kept peeking out from behind her and then jumping back to hide. "Do you see him?"

She rolled her eyes and looked over her shoulder at her. "Bela, I have no idea what he even looks like so how could I see him."

"He has a scraggly little beard and mustache."

"Bela really, that just about fits every single guy in here." She ran her hand across her face and pinched the bridge of her nose. "If you don't wanna see him then why are we at the rose?"

"All right, he looks like me but with a little beard and mustache and because if I don't head him off here, he'll end up at your estate and you don't want him there believe me."

"Is he like the black sheep of the family?"

"Worse, my Aunt called him the black plaque."

"Wonderful and here I thought Carver was a royal pain in the ass." She was about to turn around and take Isabela home when a man dressed in what could only be described as pirate garb came towards her. His hair was long and dark and covered in a faded red scarf, little braids hung against the side of his face and she could hear the clicking of the beads that were in the braids. What she found funny was the tiny little doll that hung from one braid. She then looked into his dark eyes outlined in kohl and waited. He stepped in front of her and gave her the once over. He then leaned close to her and sniffed at her neck before stepping back and giving her a smoky look.

"You don't work here; you know how I know this?"

"Could it be that I have clothes on?"

He waved a hand around and shook his head. "No, because I can smell a pirate on you and I know if I touch you, I'll find two daggers giving me a close shave." He jumped to the side, grabbed Isabela and gave her a hug. "Baby sis!"

"Andraste's tits put me down before I throw up on you!" She wiggled lose and waved a fist at him. "Don't you touch me or I swear I'll do more than give you a close shave."

"I see you're still sore about me taking your boat," he rolled his brown eyes at her. "That was years ago!"

"You left me high and dry on that island with those pygmy's!"

"I left you half the rum and my best deck of cards."

Hawke stood back and watched as the two went at it, she found it highly amusing and wished that Varric was around to witness it.

"And you took my crew!" Isabela threw her hands in the air.

"I did you a favor there," he leaned forward towards her. "They weren't very good, they ran into a reef and your boat…well let's just say Davey Jones stripped it for parts once it hit the bottom." He turned his attention to Hawke and gave her a big grin. "But I must say Bela, your taste in women is still brilliant, she's impressive." He sniffed at Hawke again and held out a hand. "Come on I can smell grandma's roast and I know she told you I was here so where's my supper?" Hawke handed him a bag and watched as he did kind of a drunken swagger over to a table and dropped into a chair. "By the way, the names Sparrow Captain Jack Sparrow."

Hawke looked to her lover with twinkling eyes, another part of the pirate queen's mystery unraveled. "So is it Isabela Sparrow?"

"No!" Isabela shook her head.

"Yes!" Jack waved a piece of bread covered in gravy at her. "Same father different mother," he shoved the bread into his mouth and talked around it. "Our mother's are sisters so we're like half siblings and full cousins or something."

He continued to eat with his hands and talk with a full mouth, Hawke was amazed that they were related. Isabela was a refined lady compared to Jack and cleaner. Jack's clothes were covered in what she hoped were brine stains and she swore he had sea weed tangled in his long dark hair.

"You're a pig Jack," Isabela grabbed a wet towel from the passing bar wench and threw it at him. "When's the last time you saw a bath tub or clean clothes?"

"I was kind of clean before we had to swim for shore." He gave her a grin. "We lost our long boat and some other stuff along the way, so we're here to refit." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Please, the last time you came into any port it was in a dingy."

"Ahhh but not this time, I got the Pearl back, took some doing but she's mine."

Isabela leaned closer to the table and looked him right in the eyes. "You're not lying; you got the Black Pearl back." She gave him a crooked grin. "What about her crew, I heard they were…"

"Dead, cursed, something like that yep but I kind of put that right. I have my old crew back with a couple of new additions." He pulled a bottle from inside his coat and handed it over to her. "Here I brought this for you, it goes down smooth as the finest silk from the orient and then bites you in the ass like a mabari."

After a few shots of Jack's rum, Isabela had loosened up and was doing something that Hawke had never seen her do before. She was dancing on top of the bar dancing to a deep tribal beat, her hips swayed in tempo as her hands glided down her body and back up to run through her now loose hair. As Hawke looked around her, she saw how the men were starting to get closer to the bar. "My sisters hot," Jack slurred in her ear and dropped an arm on her shoulder. "If she wasn't my sister I'd…well you get the hint." He took a long drink from a bottle and then waved a hand up at his sister. "So how did you manage to tame the pirate queen, cuz no ones been able to do it before?"

Hawke gave him a seductive smile and winked. "I haven't tamed her; I learned how to ride the wave." With that, she pushed her way through the crowd and up to the bar. Raising a hand up to her lover, she gave her a sultry look and then smiled when she took her hand. What Isabela did next gave every man in the bar an erection if he didn't already have one. She squatted down, pulled Hawke's face up against her crotch and gave the men a crooked grin before she sunk down to sit on the bar with her legs wrapped around Hawke's upper body. Leaning forward, she pulled her into a kiss that left Hawke holding onto her to keep from sinking to the floor. When the kiss broke, she looked into aroused blue eyes and spoke in a smoky tone. "I found this amazing hat shop in Lowtown."

"Huh…" Hawke blinked her eyes a few times. "Hatshop…now?"

"That's right, I forgot to tell you sweet thing." She ran a finger down across her bruised lips and smiled. "That's our new code word for I want you in the worst way." She slipped down from the bar, took Hawke's hand and pulled her through the crowd. "So that means you, me, our bed and hours of sex."

Chapter Eighteen

Isabela stood on the docks looking out across the water to a black ship in the distance. "She's a beauty isn't she?" Jack said from beside her. "So which one's yours?" He waved a hand to all the ships sitting in port.

"Like I'd tell you so that you could go and steal stuff from it, I think not."

"Ohh come Bela…"

She winked at him. "Ohhh I did numerous times and I plan to again as soon as I get home."

He looked at her and just shook his head. "She's that good huh?"

"Unbelievable!" She took a deep breathe and sighed. "What she does to me, no one ever has."

"Nice try sis but discussing your sex life, although it is very interesting it's not as interesting as your ships, notice the plural word I used. People talk, especially ones who have lost their ships to the pirate queen."

She turned on him and narrowed her copper colored eyes. "You so much as steal a scrub brush and I'll have Hawke hunt you down."

He gave her a tilt to his head and grinned. "Sis, I wanna know so that I can steal from someone else."

Isabela tapped her finger against her lips and then gave him a raised eyebrow. "I have an idea; let's go see one of my friends."

They made quite a stir as they entered the Viscounts area, people turned and gave them stares and then started to mumble amongst themselves. The seneschal looked over the railing and sighed, this was something he didn't need. He was about to block their way to the Viscount when they headed up the other side of the stairs and went towards the guard barracks. He watched as Isabela looked over her shoulder at him and winked, he hated her and all of her friends with a passion. They caused him nothing but heartache and more problems then he needed.

Aveline looked up from her desk at Isabela and sighed, she had enough problems without more from her. "I'm busy Isabela."

"When aren't you big girl," she dropped down to sit on the edge of her desk and gave her a grin. "I may have a solution to our qunari problem or part of it."

Aveline looked at her with her dark eyes and shook her head. "Ohhh no, you leave again and Hawke will tear what's left of Kirkwall down with her bare hands."

"I'm not going anywhere but the qunari will be, hopefully to Davey's locker." She pointed over her shoulder to Jack who was checking out the guard captain's office and the strange plant near her window.

"Nice view," he pointed to the plant and smirked. "I lost almost a whole crew to one of those things, nasty little buggers." He stepped before her desk and gave her a bow. "Captain Jack Sparrow at your service."

Aveline looked between the two of them and watched as Isabela's eyes rolled and she shrugged her shoulders. "He's my brother and he's offered to help with the qunari."

"And how do you two plan to do this?"

Jack picked up a book from Aveline's desk, flipped through the pages and handed it to Isabela as he went past to look out the windows. "You see Captain; I'm in need of a few…items for my ship." He went over to the plant and teased it before jumping back away. "And instead of purchasing them or getting them in some unsavory way," he dropped down into a chair and looked to her from lidded eyes. "I can…how do I put this sis?"

Ohhh for maker's sake Jack," She turned to Aveline. "His crew will take out the horn heads and then take what they need to refit his ship, once he's done, they'll be on their way."

"And what about retribution against Kirkwall for this piracy?"

"There won't be any, Jack will fly under the Union Jack and put all the blame on them and hopefully any ships surviving will follow him out to sea and…" she looked to her brother.

"If they follow me, they won't be making it to their next port." He waved a hand in the air. "Where I'm headed to, there is this huge beastie of the sea, anyone gets too close and let's just say they get a little water logged, savvy." He winked.

"And what does Hawke have to say about this?" Aveline asked.

"She doesn't know yet," Isabela shrugged her shoulders. "I came up with it while at the docks; I'll tell her when I get home." She saw the sparkle in Aveline's eyes when she mentioned home. "Don't say it big girl, I didn't concede to the champion, I just couldn't stand the Hanged Man anymore."

"Finally, after all these years!" She clapped her hands together and looked to the ceiling for a second of silent prayer before dropping her eyes back to a blushing pirate queen. "Isabela, it's not conceding it's a relationship."

"Yeah sis, listen to the good Captain. You better hang on to your Champion because I for one would take a go at her."

"She'd toss you off the dock or I just might do it myself." She waved her hands at him. "Go spend some coin and get a bath and your clothes washed before I have Aveline toss you in jail for making our eyes water."

"Yeah well you smell funny." He said with the indignation of a toddler.

"It's called soap, go try some." She waited for him to leave before she dropped into a chair across from Aveline's desk. "Am I that transparent when it comes to Hawke?"

"To me and the others you're like glass." She smiled and leaned back in her chair. "What's the big deal with living with her, you're there all the time anyways so what's the difference?"

"I don't know it's just been so long since I lived with someone. Not since that asshole I was married to and after he bit the big one, I decided that I didn't need anyone and it's been that way for years."

"You know it doesn't have to be the prison you imagine, like right now, you're here and Hawke's off somewhere else. She trusts you, maker only knows why but she does and of everyone, she's the first to defend you." She shook her head and sighed, she was going to butt in where she probably wasn't wanted but Isabela needed to know. "When you were gone, she was impossible. She still kicked ass when needed but she stayed mostly in her estate and just looked out the window. We all tried to get her to at least walk through the city for something to do, but dehorning a qunari with a paring knife would have been easier. And when she did leave the estate, she went to the docks and just stared out at the sea. It wasn't until you came back, that the life came back into her eyes." She watched as the pirate slid down in the chair and dropped her eyes. "You know she loves you even after all the dumb shit things you've done, what more could you ask for?" She threw a balled up piece of paper at her.

Isabela dropped her eyes to her hands and took a deep breath, she had suspicions of Hawke's feelings for her but she had never spoken the words and hearing it from the guard captain was just strange. Then again, she hasn't spoken her heart either and didn't really know if she could. It scared her spitless that she could feel so deeply for someone after preaching for years that she didn't need or want love. "I'm not good with the emotional stuff, never have been and I suck at relationships."

"Isabela, how many years have you been around Hawke?"

"It's been quite a while why?"

"Wake up Isabela and stop being so daft, you've been in a relationship with her all this time. You've got relationships with all of us, even with Anders." She snorted and leaned back in her chair. "You two fight like siblings but it still works."

"I'm not daft but you and Donnic were, I mean come on how long would you two have danced around each other before getting bent? We on the other hand don't have that problem." She played with her gauntlet and took a chance to look up at Aveline. "Since you put it that way, I guess I do all right with relationships."

"All of Kirkwall knows about yours and Hawke's sex life and I heard about the Blooming Rose incident, really Isabela, dancing on the bar?"

"It's Jack's fault, he gave me some absolutely divine rum and I went a little wild."

"Just what the Blooming Rose needs, pirates gone wild."

Chapter Nineteen

Varric roared with laughter and slapped a hand down on the wooden table in his room. "I wish I had been there," he took a long pull from the bottle of rum and closed his eyes as the last of it traveled down his gullet. "Ohhh that is some sweet stuff there Jack, where'd you get it?"

"Compliments of some Governor," he slurred and leaned back in his chair. "Let's just say that he won't be missing it."

"So you're going to sink the qunari ships?"

"That's the plan," he held his ring covered fingers up to the candle light and watched them sparkle. "I hear there's plenty of treasure to be had on those ships?"

"Could be all sorts of stuff on them, they've attacked everyone on their way here or that's what I've heard." He took another sip. "Ask your sister, she's been on them, she should have a good idea what's on there."

"Isabela was on them, what was she doing…never mind I don't wanna know."

"Believe me it wasn't that, have you ever seen a qunari?" Jack shook his head. "They're kinda grey and have these huge horns on their heads but anyway, what does a rogue normally do when she's someplace she's not supposed to be?"

"Knowing Isabela, she was stealing their hats or carving obscene pictures on their walls."

"I heard that," Isabela smacked Jack in the back of his head. "I was doing a recon and stealing valuable information." She grabbed one of his hands and yanked a ring from his finger. "This is mine you filthy pirate."

"I was keeping it safe for you." He watched as a group of people filed into the room and took seats around the table. "So are we having a party?"

"A going away party for the qunari," Hawke said as she stopped beside her lover. "Alright Aveline let's formulate a plan of attack and defense for Kirkwood, as soon as Jack starts going for the ships, the qunari on the wounded coast are going to attack."

"And we need to stop them before they get to the city." Aveline looked around the table at her friends. "I'll pull what guardsman I can to help out," she pointed to Bethany. "Talk to Orsino and see if the mage circle can help."

"I'll get some wardens to throw in a hand as well."

"Wardens, mages and elves ohhh my," Jack looked to his sister. "You live an enchanted life sis." He looked to Bethany and grinned to show his gold teeth. "And so many beautiful women to be entertained by," He flinched when Merrill stepped in front of her and held out a fireball in her one hand. "Isabela did you have to corrupt all of them?"

"It's what I do best." She smirked and grabbed Hawke's ass.

Chapter Twenty

Hawke walked past Anders and Isabela and rolled her eyes, they were having a starring competition and so far it was an hour and neither was looking any worse for wear. She watched as her lover raised her upper lip to bare her teeth and growled. She then looked across the table and watched as the tabby kitten sitting on Anders shoulder, stood up and hissed at her. This went on back and forth between them and Anders kept on reading his book like nothing out of the ordinary was going on.

"It's simply amazing; I've never seen anything like it." Merrill said as she looked between the pirate and the kitten. "Maybe she can talk to those damn rabbits for me; they keep eating all the tops off the vegetables I planted in the garden."

"How about if you put some fencing around it or we can make rabbit stew." Hawke replied and grinned when Merrill's face went pale. "Guess the fence is a bad idea."

"What?" She blinked her luminous green eyes and then shook her head. "No…I mean yes…I can fence the garden in." She looked to the floor. "I couldn't possible eat any of those rabbits, I've named them."

"Well," she pointed to Hawke's sister. "Her name is Bethany and you eat her so." Isabela snickered when the young elf went red right to the tips of her pointy ears.

"Isabela!" Merrill squeaked.

"What?" She gave her a grin and then went back to her contest with the kitten.

Hawke rolled her eyes again and then gave Merrill a hug. "Ok guys what are we doing?"

Varric raised his hand. "I found a contact that just so happens to know of another contact that knows where we can find those grenades the horn heads are using." He shook his head. "Blondie, is it possible to become nuts from being around nutty people because that talkative guy was always in my room and I'm babbling!" He looked right at Merrill. "Anyways, we need to go to that cave up there in the wounded coast."

"Ok," Aveline nodded. "I've got two patrols up that way in case we need some back-up."

Hawke clapped her hands together. "Ok people lets go kick some ass and for maker's sake be careful." She held out a hand to Isabela and finally had to cover her eyes to get her away from staring at the kitten.

"I was winning!" She stumbled back into Hawke's body and was then propelled towards the door.

"Bela, the kitten is sound asleep." Hawke looked over her shoulder to see the kitten lying across Anders shoulder. "Is she like glued there or something?"

Anders gave her a smirk. "Same way you and the hoe bag hold that stone phallus of yours in place."

Hawke looked to her lover. "You didn't."

"Of course not," she held out two fingers towards Anders and mumbled some foreign words. "I hope you like hair loss."

"Gee sweet thing you bring me to some of the nicest places in Thedas." Isabela slapped at the cobwebs in the cave and stomped on a small spider. They moved farther down the dark tunnel and came to a small opening that had two tunnels branching off from it; Isabela squinted and groaned. "Shit…why do we always have to run into big spiders," she pulled her daggers free and jumped to the side to avoid one of the hairy things mandibles coming at her. "Why can't they big be bunnies or something?"

"Bunnies are scary!" Merrill threw a lightning bolt at the spider and then shivered with the thought of a big bunny coming after her.

"Can you guys imagine me telling a story about Sebastian getting his ass kicked by a big bunny?" He threw a look to Sebastian and chuckled when he gave him a very un-chantry like gesture.

Aveline grunted and slammed a spider with her shield. "Can we please concentrate on the task at hand?" She missed all the hand gestures that were thrown up behind her back.

Merrill giggled with glee. "I like being dirty, say something else so I can do that again!"

Aveline looked over her shoulder at the giggling elf and then to Isabela. "You wait whore."

"Hey I didn't do anything!" Isabela yelled as she killed the last spider. "Why do I always get blamed?"

"Because you've corrupted Merrill." Aveline threw spider silk all over the pirate and headed down further into the tunnel. They traveled through the dark tunnels for what seemed hours until they came to a wide open area. Hawke held up her hand and kept everyone back in the darkness of the tunnel. She looked to Isabela and watched as she nodded her head and crept through the shadows towards where the men were sitting around an area filled with wooden crates. As she crept closer, she stopped to where she could hear them but also remain unseen.

"So when we supposed to drop this stuff off?" A rotten toothed thug asked.

"We ain't, they give us the gold and then we give them a map where the stuff is." Another thug said as he drew up a rough map of the coastal area. "But who's to say that the map is right?" He chuckled and went back to what he was doing.

Isabela looked over her shoulder to Hawke and nodded her head; she then waited for them to spread out before she lobbed a chameleon bomb amongst the men. As they coughed and fell all over the place, the misfits took them out. They would have been easy pickings even without the bomb but Isabela just likes throwing them. When all was said and done, the map was confiscated, the crates and grenades were destroyed, the bodies looted and then left to feed the creepy cave inhabitants.

"Can we go now, I'm thirsty?" Isabela wiped the blood from her daggers before putting them back into their sheaths.

"I'm hungry and I've got spider webs all over me." Bethany pulled her fingers through her hair and jumped back when a spider fell from her hand. "And spiders in my hair."

"Booty wants some milk." Anders kissed his kittens head and put her back on his shoulder where she rubbed against the side of his face. All at once everyone started whining and had Hawke clapping her hands over her ears.

"All right let's get out of here," she waved her hands to usher them all down the tunnel and hopefully out of the cave faster than what it took them to get to where they were. "I need a strong drink or two." She hefted the bag over her shoulder, took Isabela's hand and walked behind the misfits. "One less thing we have to worry about."

"We just need to find out who made those things." Isabela said.

"Already know who, Aveline has some paperwork she found with names on it, she's going to go haul some people in once we get back."

"And we're not helping?"

"Nope, we have plans for tonight." She squeezed her hand.

Isabela gave her a sexy smirk. "Really, are silk sheets and whipped cream involved?"

"Most defiantly."

Isabela growled at Hawke and threw a wet rag at her. "This is not what I had in mind when I said silk sheets and whipped cream." She slammed the wooden handle down into the churn and growled some more.

"Hey, it was either wash the bed sheets or make the whipped cream, you picked the whipped cream."

"You're such a slave driver." She mumbled.

"Serah Marion, I would have washed those if you had brought them done." Bodahn said from where he was standing at the back door to the kitchen.

"It's ok; I had some delicate things that needed washed." She winked at Isabela and then noticed that the dwarf was blushing. "Any messages or anything for me?"

"No, everything has been quiet today and if you don't mind, I'm taking my boy fishing with an overnight stay down by the lake."

"No that's fine, have fun." She watched as he grabbed a bag from the pantry and his fishing pole before going out the back door.

"Sweet thing, you realize that we have the whole place to ourselves." Isabela said with a sexy smirk and got up from where she had been sitting and made her way over to Hawke. "I have this fantasy that I want us to act out," she rubbed up against her and trailed her fingers down across her chest to stop on the waist band of her trousers. "But first we lock all the damn doors because I don't want any interruptions." She gave her a searing kiss and pulled away to leave her leaning against the wall for support. "I'll get the doors, you get the bathtub ready."

Hawke heard her running through the estate to all the doors and then she heard cussing. "SHIT! I HATE my sodding luck!" She came back into the kitchen with an expression on her face that sent the fear of the maker through Hawke. "Please tell me I can kill him." She threw a thumb over her shoulder to where Anders was following her.

"I'll do it myself if he says we have to go kill something." She shot him a look that had him freezing in the doorway.

"Don't kill the messenger for Maker's sake, go kill Aveline, she sent me." He pulled a small bag from inside his pouch and handed it over to her. "Here's yours and the hoe bags cut from the grenade makers." He shrugged his shoulders and then groaned when he heard a low growl and then a hiss. "Stop that whore," he showed his hand that was sparking with lightning and watched as she stepped back. "Anyway, they found a bunch of coin when they arrested the creeps and she split it up for us." He pointed a finger at Isabela. "Now you can afford to buy her a muzzle."

"That's it!" Isabela yelled and headed over to one of the kitchen cabinets where she had been storing some of her possessions. She pulled the door open, searched for what she needed and then waved it in the air in triumph. "Got it!" She pulled a small dagger from her sash and waved it at the doll in her hand. "Now you pay spirit boy…Pumpkin!" She yelled and waited for the dog to show up before she cut her finger, rubbed the blood on the doll and said some foreign words. When she saw how wide his eyes were, she threw the doll to the dog and watched as she ran from the kitchen. "Better run back to your clinic before the symptoms start."

"Like I believe in any of your hocus pocus stuff," he pointed to his head. "I still have all my hair so there!" With that he turned on his heel and started for the door, he didn't see Hawke's mouth drop open behind his back.

"Isabela…" Hawke whispered.

"He deserves it and so much more." She moved to rub against her lover and nip at her neck.

"His kitten's ass is bald."

"Just wait until he gets back to his clinic and sees that he has a nasty rash starting." She ran her fingers under Hawke's tunic and caressed her stomach before moving up to cup her breasts. "Revenge makes me hot."

Chapter twenty One

The misfits separated as they moved down through the paths at the wounded coast, Aveline waved a hand to the guard's archers and watched as they spread out across the top of the ridge line. Orsino moved his mages down from the archers and nodded to both Hawke sisters. Hawke took her small band of melee misfits with towards where they knew the qunari to be camping. Word had traveled fast that morning that a patrol of guards had been killed by the qunari and their heads were on pikes at the city gates. The people of Kirkwood were going insane; they were boarding up their windows or fleeing the city for out laying farms. None of them wanted to go through what they had the last time the qunari attacked them. Hawke knew then that she would take the fight to them and save the city. She looked now to the horizon and saw dust rising.

"Looks like they're coming to meet us," she waved a hand at Aveline and pointed. "Ok let's make this quick and take no prisoners." She looked to her friends and offered them a small smile. "Don't forget about those grenades they have, our enchantments will absorb some but not all of the damage they throw out." She put her hand out and shook hands with everyone. "See you on the other side." She waited until they moved off before she turned to Isabela. "You be careful out there, no heroics." She pulled her into her arms and brought their foreheads together. "I love you Isabela and I don't wanna lose you."

"You won't unless you do something asinine and get yourself killed." She pulled her down into a kiss that expressed what her heart held for the reaver. "Promise me you won't you die on me or I'll yank you back from the fade to kick your ass." She pulled away from her and took off at a slow jog towards one of the paths that would put her behind the enemy. Hawke closed her eyes and looked to the sky.

"Protect her Andraste." She prayed before swinging her shield down from her back and drawing her sword. "Ok people let's kick some qunari ass!" She took off at a jog towards Aveline's guards and moved through them to take her spot next to their Captain. "Ready Aveline?"

"No but are we ever ready to do this stuff?"

"Not that I can think of." She gave her a grin and then closed the visor of her helmet. Before they could get halfway down the path, the qunari came at them like a swarm of bees. Hawke dropped her shoulder and slammed into the nearest one and watched as Aveline ran him through. They fought side by side until the earth shook and a force ripped across them and scattered everyone across the ground. Hawke lifted her head and what she saw gripped her heart and squeezed it. A serribus walked towards them, he stopped to slam his hands together and then send another force field to his left. The guards blew backwards into piles of arms and legs. Hawke stumbled to her feet and looked around for Aveline and Fenris, when she turned back; she felt her blood run cold. Isabela launched herself off the back of a qunari and flew through the air towards the serribus. With both daggers arched over her head, she dropped behind him and brought them down into his back. As he fell forward, she leapt over him and pulled her daggers from his body. In the blink of an eye she was gone. "She's gonna be the death of me."

They fought for what seemed forever and just when they thought that it was over, another swarm came over the ridge and tried to flank them. She raised her visor and wiped a trickle of blood from her eyes. As she moved out of the way to catch her breath, she felt the earth shake beneath her feet. She feared more of the qunari mages and was ready to send a signal to Orsino but stopped when she saw what had caused the tremor. A huge qunari was slamming a huge two-handed mace into the opposing forces and crushing them into the ground. He threw his chest out, raised his massive arms out to the sides and roared.

"Shit…" Hawke said and turned to look for the archers and mages on the ridges, what she found truly scared her, there was no one there. Fear gripped her heart; she looked frantically for her sister and Merrill but couldn't find them. She took off running towards where Aveline and Fenris were hacking through the qunari and added her sword to there's. "Our ranged fighters are gone!" She yelled to them and then felt pain radiating up her right thigh. As she turned, she saw a qunari archer aiming another arrow at her. She threw her shield up to deflect the arrow but felt another pain shot up her other leg.

"Get her out of here!" Aveline yelled at Fenris before she took off after the archer.

"No, go help Aveline; she can't get to both of them without taking fire from one of them." She limped over to where she could take some cover and tried to remove the arrows.

"Thank the maker I found you." Bethany yelled and dragged her sister further away from the battle. "We had to get of the ridges, they were sending volley's of arrows and bolts at us. She pulled the arrows from her sister's thighs and tried to heal them; she managed to slow the bleeding but frowned with knowledge. "Hawke, they had some kind of poison on them, I can't heal them."

"It's ok, help me up." She groaned from the pain and felt a little light headed. "Where's Merrill and Anders?"

"Helping who they can," she looked around them and felt tears fall from her eyes, the carnage was knee deep and the beach was covered in the blood of the dead. "Where's Isabela?"

"I don't know," Hawke said in a choked voice and tried not to sob. "I have to get back out there, if I fall, you take Merrill and run…promise me."

Bethany nodded her head. "I love you sis." She gave her sister a hug before she let her go and headed back to where she had left her friends.

Hawke stumbled back into the fight, she did her best to take out the qunari around her and was about to smash one with her shield when he turned to ice. She looked over her shoulder and saw Sandal standing on the ridge behind her. He gave her a small wave and a smile before he turned another qunari to ice. "Andraste's tit, he's an apostate." She mumbled and gave him a wave and went back into the fight. She cut her way back to the front and found that a lot of the guards had fallen and only a few were left. The reason behind this was the huge qunari with the two-handed mace. As soon as he saw her, he tossed the guard he had in his hand to the ground and ran straight for her. She dropped to the ground and rolled out of his way. She got to her feet and weaved from light headedness. She knew that the poison was in her blood stream and it was the main reason she was having problems. Everything blurred before her and she felt numbness traveling through her limbs. Before she could get out of his way, he swept her legs out from under her with his mace and then swung it down to crush her. She rolled to her side and tried to crawl away.

Aveline charged him and slammed into his side, he stumbled from his path to crush Hawke. Instead, he swung his mace and caught Aveline in her hip. She flew through the air and landed in an unmoving heap. Hawke yelled her name and then searched the ground for her sword and shield. Before she could grab her sword, she was lifted from the ground and thrown to the side. He came after her again and kicked her hard enough that she felt her armor cave in over her ribcage. He picked her up and threw her again, she wonder if he was just gonna keep doing that until he grew tired. She lay on her back and watched as he swung his mace up over his head. At that moment she knew she was going to die and she accepted it.

Bethany, Anders, Merrill and Varric came running out onto the battle ground and started searching for survivors and the rest of their friends. Merrill gripped Bethany's shoulder and shook her. "Hawke!" She pointed off to the distance and then started to run. She made it halfway there when out of nowhere Isabela appeared near Hawke. The others had caught up with her and stopped, they started to clear the remaining qunari by way of ranged battle. They all jumped at the sound of a blood curdling yell and started to run. What happened next was unexplainable.

Isabela saw her lover on her back in the sand and the huge qunari advancing towards her. She ran towards them and scooped up Hawke's shield on her way. As he was bringing his mace up over his head, she launched herself into the air and when she hit the ground in front of Hawke, she raised her shield up and braced for impact. She felt a humming coming from the shield and then a bright light erupted to surround her and Hawke. She felt a slight pressure against the shield and then a wave of energy whooshed outward. She dropped the shield down and saw the qunari shaken and stumbling backward. Grabbing Hawke's sword from the ground, she ran at him. At the last second, she dropped to the ground and slide through the sand. She threw the sword upwards into his gut, twisted the blade and then ripped it free as she slide between his legs. As he grabbed his spilling guts, he fell to his knees and looked into her fiery eyes. She spun on her heel and swiped at his neck with enough force that his head remained sitting on his shoulders. It wasn't until he fell forward that his head dropped off to roll in the sand.

She dropped both shield and sword and ran to where Hawke was lying in the sand. She dropped to her knees and lifted her up so that she was cradled in her lap. "Hawke…come on sweetness wake up." She pulled her visor up and then removed the helmet to toss it to the ground. "Come on baby open up those beautiful eyes for me." She wiped blood from her face and felt how cold her skin felt beneath her fingers. Tears filled her eyes and slipped down her dirty cheeks to drip onto Hawke's blood splattered armor. "You promised me Marion," she sobbed and pressed her face against Hawke's. "I love you Hawke." She sobbed openly and rocked her in her arms. "I've always loved you." She threw her head back and let out a yell that sent the hair of the survivors to stand on end. She rocked Hawke in her arms and started to mumble in her foreign tongue until it was a yell. The air around them started to crackle, small lights danced around on the air and then a pure white light erupted around them and hovered.

Bethany and the others dropped to their knees, Aveline crawled across the sand towards them and then fell into the sand panting. From their right someone came running, they stopped to drop to their knees next to them. When Bethany looked over, her mouth fell open at the sight of a blood spattered Leliana.

"Andraste." Leliana mumbled and then dropped her head in prayer. For what seemed hours but was mere minutes, the light flashed, hummed and then finally went out with a low hiss. In the sand lay Hawke with Isabela collapsed across her chest. Bethany was the first to approach and then Leliana. The seeker dropped down to her knees and placed a hand to the side of Isabela's neck; she looked to Bethany and nodded her head. "She's alive," she then touched Hawke's face and then placed her fingers on the side of her neck. A small smile graced her lips and then a sigh of relief. "She's alive as well; let's get them out of here."

Aveline struggled to keep on her feet; she looked around her and was about to do something so out of character for her, sob from grief. She hadn't seen Donnic since before the battle and wondered if he had fallen to the Qunari. From a distance she saw two men walking their way, one was helping the other to stay on his feet. As they drew closer, she saw that it was her husband helping Fenris. Tears of relief sprang to her eyes and trailed down her dirty cheeks.

Chapter Twenty-Two

With the help of other seekers, they managed to get Hawke and Isabela back to the estate. Leliana stayed with the reaver and pirate until amber eyes flickered open. "Leliana…" she blinked her eyes and saw that she was in Hawke's room. "What are you doing here?"

"I've been here all alone for days, nice of you to join me; I've grown tired of sleeping in this damn chair though." She stood with some difficulty. "Let me get you some water." She moved over to a table and brought back a cup of water and held it out to her. "How do you feel?"

"Like I got run over by a heard of halla." She then looked to where Hawke was lying next to her and felt her whole world spin out of control. She placed a hand on the reaver's chest and sighed with relief. "I thought she was dead." She looked back to Leliana with a questioning expression. "Wait, I know she was dead, I felt her cold flesh and there was no heart beat."

"And that is exactly why I've stayed here, how did you do it?"

Isabela rubbed at her gritty eyes and shook her head in confusion. "Do what; all I did was kill that sodding horn head." She narrowed her eyes a bit and looked to the seeker. "That enchantment on the shield was amazing though, I never expected that, I was waiting to be crushed."

"That's another thing I have a question about." The redhead gave her a grin. "You see, other than a simple protection enchantment there was nothing else on Hawke's shield." She watched amber eyes grow confused. "The others told me about what happened with Hawke's shield so I only have what they saw. When I got there, you were yelling something in a language that none of us recognized, what were you saying? And what was that bright light that surrounded the two of you? When it stopped, we found you two unconscious?"

Isabela dropped her head and grinned. "You sure haven't changed much Leliana, always so full of questions. Would you believe that I was cussing Andraste out, she's supposed to be the warrior Goddess and protector, well she didn't do her job so I gave her a peace of my mind and then some."

"My self and the other seekers believe that she was the one who protected you and Hawke, we know that it was she that healed the two of you as well." She bent down to look into her amber eyes. "We know this because the only healers that were there at the time were Bethany and Anders and neither one of them were within range to do anything."

"You've got to be kidding me, I cuss out Andraste and she feels guilty and does all of that?" She snorted and rolled from the bed to drop to her knees when she tried to stand. "Well shit, wasn't expecting that." She took Leliana's offered hand. "This just sounds all too far fetched, maybe Hawke did it, she's a reaver and all maybe she has your answers." She leaned on the edge of the bed with both hands and looked at her lover's calm face. "How long have we been sleeping?"

"About a week, Anders and Bethany have been in to check on you two. Neither one of you has any scars from your injuries during that battle. Bethany said that Hawke was shot through both thighs with poisonous arrows but there are no scars to show it."

Isabela looked down at how she was dressed in a simple blue tunic and raised her eyes to Leliana. "Who stripped us because if it was Anders, I'll put a curse on him that makes his parts fall off."

Leliana chuckled and shook her head. "Bethany chased him out of here with the treat of a lightning bolt to a sensitive area; her and Merrill were the only two in here at the time." She looked over when she heard a deep groan and watched as Hawke rolled over in the bed and searched the spot beside her. "It looks like your champion is looking for you; I'll go see what Bodahn has in the way of food." She turned and walked from the room leaving Isabela to crawl back into the bed and lie next to Hawke.

"You are in deep shit when you wake up, you scared a few years of life from me and then go and die on me all in a matter of seconds." She said in a low voice next to her ear and then wrapped her arms around her. "I love you Marion." She pressed a kiss to her neck and pulled back when she heard a soft moan.

"Say that again." Hawke said in a rough voice.

Isabela pulled back to look into crystal blue eyes, she faltered and then said in a soft voice. "I love you Marion, I always have." She dropped her head onto her chest and sobbed from relief. She felt like a giant weight had been lifted from her shoulders, she had been carrying around her feelings for the Champion for years. Until now, she had no idea the stress it had caused her by ignoring everything. She felt arms wrap around her and sobbed harder, she had thought that she would never feel her lovers touch ever again. "No more dying on me, do you hear me?"

"I will never mess with you again; you jerked me out of the fade so hard that I thought I was coming apart at the seams." She ran her hands up and down Isabela's back and stopped to tangle her fingers in her long silky hair. "How did you do that anyways?"

Isabela lifted her face up to show tear filled eyes. "I didn't, I have no idea how any of this happened."

Hawke wiped the tears from her cheeks and looked into her amber eyes, she had never seen her lover cry before, she was pretty sure that the pirate queen was incapable of it, that was until now. "Why are you crying, we're ok…right?"

"Why…why not, I mean," she slapped Hawke in her shoulder. "I killed that big ass Qunari to save you and you were already dead…" She fell apart again and sobbed into Hawke's chest. Hawke then looked up to see her sister and Leliana walk into her room. Bethany crawled onto the bed and pulled both women into her arms.

"Hey Leliana, you wanna come over here and cry on me to?"

The redhead gave her a bright smile and shook her head. "That's ok, I'm happy to just be talking to you." She placed a tray filled with food on the table by the bed and took a seat in the chair. While Bethany and Isabela cried themselves to sleep on top of Hawke, she filled her in on what happened to her and Isabela and the outcome of the battle. She had posted seekers at the front and back doors of the estate to keep people from trying to come in and bother the unconscious women. "The Chantry wants to put a statue of you at the front doors."

"Why, I mean according to Bela, I died on the field, what ever happened, it's because of her not me. Let them put a statue of the pirate queen there for killing that huge ass arishok and pissing off Andraste."

Leliana laughed and nodded her head. "I'll run that past the Cleric Mother."

"Does Mother Anna know about what happened, she's Bela's grandma?"

"Her grandma is in the Chantry," she chuckled and shook her head. "I'll talk to her when I head back." She waved a hand at the two women lying up against her and shook her head. "And I've been told that I'm kinky, you've got me beat by a mile."

Hawke drew her brows down over her pale eyes and shook her head. "It's not like that, I don't…not with my sister."

Leliana laughed and turned for the door. "I know that, I'm just giving you a hard time, paybacks for that horrible chair there."

"Before you go, do you know anything about the rest of my misfits, are they…"

"Pissed that I won't let them up here to see you, everyone is good and that Sandal is something else. His icy statues have been moved to flank the city gates, nothing like a little display to ward off other's from trying something." She gave her a wave before she left the room. Hawke lay there for a while trying to think of the last thing she had done before the Qunari had grabbed her and slammed her into the ground. While she lay there, she felt a hand move across her breast to cup it possessively. She rolled to her side to face Isabela and pulled her into her body. She grinned when Bethany shifted against her and rolled over to throw her arm over her and Isabela. It reminded her of all the years they had to share a bed when they were growing up and then when they moved in with their uncle. She was just dozing off when she heard soft footsteps come into the room; she turned her heard and saw luminous green eyes watching her. "Hey Merrill." She heard her soft sniffle and then the bed dipped under her weight. She smiled into the darkness when she felt yet another arm wrap around her.

Isabela looked across the bed and grinned crookedly, this was something she only dreamed about. "This will really give my reputation a boost; I got three women in bed with me all at the same time."

"You suck Isabela!" Anders said from the doorway.

"Yes I do, if you happen to have the right parts, which you don't." She rolled from bed and stood slowly. She turned to face him and took a deep breath before speaking. "Thank you for everything you've done for us since the battle." With that said, she walked slowly from the room and went towards the kitchen. It had been too long since she had eaten anything and her stomach was screaming at her.

Anders quickly looked over his shoulder to make sure that it was really Isabela that had thanked him; he would never have believed that she would have done that. "Sweet Andraste, that was unexpected."

"She's full of surprises," Hawke said and pulled herself up in the bed. "And that goes for me to, Thank you for everything."

"You're welcome," he scratched his bearded face and gave her a grin. "You scared us nearly to death but not a much as Isabela. If I see a white light forming around her again, I'm running in the opposite direction." He moved over to sit in a chair. "So do you think it was Andraste that answered her?"

"No idea, I'm just very grateful to whoever brought me back from the fade." She got out of the bed and stood for a few seconds until the dizziness subsided. "I need to move around some, my body is so stiff."

"Who wouldn't be stiff, Merrill and Isabela made a Hawke sandwich out of you and Bethany." He grinned and helped her from the bedroom; they met Isabela at the bottom of the stairs. She was carrying a tray loaded down with food and sweet tea. "Let's go in the kitchen and eat, I'm tired of lying around." She took her lover's elbow and walked with her to the table. After she took a seat, she looked down at her right forearm and up to Anders with a look of confusion. "What's this on my arm?"

"We have no idea, but it looks kinda like a bunny." He gave her a smirk. "We thought that you had that put there for some reason."

She shook her head and looked to Isabela who rolled her eyes and threw her right arm out. "I thought it was a joke and tried to wash it off but guess what, it won't come off. It's almost like a branding," she ran her fingers over the pure white mark on her forearm. She put out her left arm to show the tattoo of a sparrow and then pointed to the marking of the bunny. "This is my family piracy seal and this is not," she pointed to the bunny. "It's kinda wimpy, Merrill would have this put somewhere, like on her ass."

She looked up when Sandal came over to them, pulled back his sleeve to show the same mark. "Bunny!" He gave them a smile and walked away. Isabela rolled her eyes and dropped her head to the table. Anders busted out laughing and clapped his hands.

"This is great, the Champion of Kirkwall, the Pirate Queen and Sandal all have the same bunny mark. You guys can call yourselves the bunny brigade!" He jumped when he felt someone look over his shoulder. "I think my heart just stopped, thank you."

"You're quite welcome Anders," Cleric Mother said and clapped him on his shoulder. "That is the symbol of Andraste; she marks her chosen with the image of a hare."

"Couldn't she have picked a manly image like a lion or something, I mean a bunny…please." Isabela groaned again when she looked at the mark on her arm. "Varric is never gonna leave me alone now."

Chapter Twenty Three

A few days later, Isabela and Hawke made an appearance at the Hanged Man. They were engulfed in tight hugs from all of their friends and the patrons paid for their drinks that night. After a few hours, they headed home and for once no one attacked them. Hawke wondered if that was because they were afraid that Andraste would strike them down for going after two of her chosen or that Varric had pulled some strings. Either way she wasn't about to complain, she just wanted to go home and spend some quality time with Isabela. She cast a glance to her lover and gave her a crooked grin. "We have the estate to ourselves tonight, what do you say we grab some wine and spend the night in front of the fire?"

"I say we get some seekers to guard the outside doors, pumpkin to guard the room we're in and we stay there until neither one of us can walk right." She spun around to face Hawke, reached up and placed a hand behind her head. "I'm gonna make you yell for Andraste until she shows up and explains the bunny marks." She pulled her head down and kissed her with everything that was in her heart.

Hawke had no say so in what happened in the bedroom that night; Isabela was more aggressive than usual. She had them out of their clothes before they even made it to the room. But then everything changed, she became softer and calmer. She pressed herself against Marion and ran her fingers down across her cheeks and stopped at her chin. Where she ran her fingertips across the slight cleft there and then looked up into her pale blue eyes. "I'm not usually this honest with anyone," she looked down for a brief second before she brought her eyes back up. "I'm in love with you; I fell for you a long time ago. That's why I came back with that stupid relic and that's why I took off again but I'm going to say this and I mean it with every bit of my heart. I will never leave you ever again."

Hawke gave her a bright smile and wrapped her arms around her waist. "I fell in love with you when you were kicking Lucky's ass all over the hanged man." She brought her mouth down and placed a soft kiss to her lips. "I never stopped loving you and nor will I stop." She kissed her again and felt herself being pushed backwards until she came up against the bed. She sat down and fell back with Isabela on top of her. What Isabela did to her in those few brief moments had her heart pounding, gone was the rough Pirate Queen and before her was someone she didn't know. Her touches were soft and lingering; her kisses were full of passion and had Hawke gasping for breath. This wasn't their normal frenzied coupling; this was something she had ever experienced before. Her body hummed from the attention Isabela paid to her breasts, her hands kneaded the warm flesh before her lips and tongue covered hardened nipples. She worked her way down her stomach to stop at her naval. She stopped and looked up with burning amber eyes and kept eye contact with her as she moved down between her thighs.

With the first touch of a warm wet tongue licking her folds, her eyes rolled and she dropped her head back into the pillows. Spreading her thighs further apart, she dug her heels into the bed, gripped the blanket in her hands and rolled her hips to the rhythm that Isabela started. She gasped when she slipped two fingers inside of her and pumped slow and deep while she licked her clit in the same maddening pace. "Bela…" she lifted her head up and saw that she was still watching her. "Please…" Isabela curled her fingers forward and hit the spot that never failed to send her over the edge but this time she continued to watch as her body went tight as a bow string and she shook uncontrollably with her release. What came out of her mouth brought a wide grin to the pirates face. No matter where Andraste was, she had to hear Hawke yelling out her name. Before the last tremor coursed through her body, Isabela crawled up her body and straddled one of her muscular thighs. She leaned forward and kissed her, their tongues caressed one another and Hawke moaned from the taste of herself on her lover's lips.

Isabela slowly rolled her hips into the strong muscles of her lover's thigh, painting her with her juices and making her skin slick. She could feel her release was fast approaching, she pulled away from Hawke, arched her back and ground into her faster. As the tidal wave over took her, she threw her head back and yelled. Hawke rolled her to her back and slipped down between her thighs before her climax finished. She slipped two fingers inside of her and pumped while sucking on her clit. Seconds later, another climax tore through her and had her yelling in her foreign tongue. Her body bucked with each wave until she dropped into the bed from exhaustion. She reached down for Hawke and pulled her up to lay on top of her. "Twice in a row Hawke?"

"Wanna go for three?" She leaned forward, nipped and sucked at her neck until she was squirming beneath her. They ground against each other until their climaxes tore through them; each saw bright lights and heard humming in their ears before they collapsed into each other. What neither one of them was awake to see, was the woman standing beside their bed in pure white armor with a shinning two-handed sword slung across her back. She leaned over and placed a hand on each of their heads and smiled.

"You are my chosen because you would sacrifice yourselves for each other and the greater good." She slowly faded from sight just as the two women stirred. Hawke looked around them before moving to her side and laying her head on Isabela's chest.

"Do you have the strange feeling that we were being watched?" Isabela asked in a low voice.

"Yeah I do and I feel kind of…tingly." She pulled the blankets up over them and wrapped herself around Isabela. "I love you Bela."

"I love you to Marion." She said and felt a lightness overtake her before sleep claimed her.

Jack looked up towards Hawke and his sister's room and shook his head; he knew all about his sister's sexual prowess, it was a family trait after all. "I'm gonna have to talk to Hawke and learn her secrets." He picked up the turkey leg and took a bite out of it. "Multiples, she gives my baby sister multiples." He took the bag of food from the table and let himself out the back door of the kitchen. "I wonder who that strange woman was in there; she really needs to get out in the sun more."

Hawke and Isabela stood down at the docks and watched as Jack's crew readied the Black Pearl for voyage. His crew had taken out all of the qunari ships and loaded all of their stores and what ever else they could fit on the Pearl and not sink. Isabela watched as Jack stood on the rigging and waved at her and Hawke. "I'll come by on my way home and bring you some nice silk clothe from my travels!"

"Red silk, I want red!" Isabela yelled back and waved as the Pearl slipped away from the pier. She looked closer at her brother and swore. "You sodding thief that's mine!"

"I know but it looks better on me!" He bowed his head to show her favorite blue head scarf and then swung down to take the helm.

"That means he was in our house," she turned to Hawke with narrowed eyes. "Watching us!"

Hawke smiled and shrugged as she ran her fingers through her lover's loose hair. "I hope he learned something." She leaned down and captured her lips in a passionate kiss that left Isabela falling into her and gasping for breath. "Let's go home and see if we can break our bedroom record." At the sound of her name being called, she sighed and dropped her head onto Isabela's shoulder.

"Hawke I need desperate help or I'm going to jail!" Merrill grabbed her arm and gave her pleading eyes. "My plant in Aveline office ate one of the guard's pet chickens and now he wants my plant killed and me charged with murder."

"Suggestion here sweetness, how about if I kill the rest of his chickens and you feed him to the plant."

Hawke clapped her hands together and turned to see that Merrill had turned tail and run away. "Run before someone else wants us for something!" They took off running and didn't stop until they got to the estate. The door was barred, Bodahn was given strict orders to say that they were on the wounded coast collecting sea shells and that they were retiring to their room for the unforeseeable future.

The end.


End file.
